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MEMOIR   AND    LETTERS 


OP 


CHARLES     SUMNER, 


BY 


EDWARD   L.  PIERCE. 


Vol.  I.  / 
1811-1838. 


BOSTON: 
ROBERTS      BROTHERS. 

1893. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress  in  the  year  1877.  by 

EDWARD    L.    PIERCE, 

In  the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington. 


SEVENTH     EDITION', 


University  Press  : 
John  Wilson  &  Son,  Cambridge. 


NOTE. 

The   first   article   of   Mr.   Sumner's  will   is   as   follows :  — 

"  I  bequeath  to  Henry  W.  Longfellow,  Francis  V.  Balch,  and 

Edward  L.  Pierce,  as  trustees,  all  my  papers,  manuscripts,  and 

letter-books,  to  do  with  them  what  they  think  best ;  with  power 

to  destroy  them,  to  deposit  them  in  some  public  library,  or  to 

make  extracts  from  them  for  publication."     With  the  facilities 

afforded  by  this  trust,  and  the  aid  of  Mr.  Sumner's  early  friends, 

who   have   kindly  contributed   their   recollections   of   him   and 

such  letters  as  they  had  preserved,  the  biographer  has  prepared 

two  volumes  of  his  Memoir  and  Letters  for  the  period  closing 

with  the  Oration  on  "  The  True  Grandeur  of  Nations,"  July  4, 

1845,  which  is  the  first  production  included  in  the  edition  of 

his  Works  as  revised  by  himself,  and  marks  the  beginning  of 

his  public  career. 

E.  L.  P. 

Milton,  Massachusetts, 
September  22,  1877. 


CONTENTS    OF  VOL.  I. 


CHAPTER   I. 

Page 

Ancestry 1 


CHAPTER  II. 

Parentage  and  Family.  —  The  Father 11 

CHAPTER  III. 

1811-26. 

Birth  and  Early  Education 35 

CHAPTER  IV. 

September,  1826,  to  September,  1830. 
College  Life 45 

CHAPTER  V. 

September,  1830,  to  September,  1831. 
Year  After  College 71 

CHAPTER  VI. 

September,  1831,  to  December,  1833. 
Law  School 90 

CHAPTER  VII. 

January,  1834,  to  September,  1834. 
Study  in  a  Law  Office.  —  Visit  to  Washington 123 


Vlll  CONTENTS   OF   VOL.  I. 

CHAPTER   VIII. 

September,  1834,  to  December,  1837. 
Early  Professional  Life 146 

CHAPTER  IX. 

December,  1837. 
Going  to  Europe 196 

CHAPTER  X. 

December,  1837,  to  January,  1838. 
The  Voyage  and  Arrival 213 

CHAPTER   XI. 

January  and  February,  1838. 
Paris,  its  Schools 226 

CHAPTER  XII. 

March  to   May,   1838. 
Paris. — Society  and  the  Courts 261 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

June,  1838,  to  March,  1839. 
England 298 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

June  and  July,  1838. 
First  Weeks  in  London 312 

CHAPTER    XV. 

August  to  October,  1838. 
The  Circuits  —  Visits  in  England  and  Scotland 341 


MEMOIR  AND  LETTERS 

OF 

CHAKLES     SUMNEE. 


CHAPTER    I. 

ANCESTRY. 


HPHE  Sumner  Family  is  of  English  origin.  The  name  was 
-*•  at  first  Summoner  or  Somner,  —  the  title  of  officers  whose 
duty  it  was  to  summon  parties  into  courts.  Roger  Sumner  died 
at  Bicester,  in  the  county  of  Oxford,  and  was  buried  in  the 
church  of  St.  Edburg,  Dec.  4,  1608.  William,  his  only  son  and 
heir,  from  whom  descended  Charles  Sumner,  in  the  seventh  gen- 
eration, was  baptized  in  St.  Edburg,  Jan.  27,  1604-5.  About 
1635,  he  came,  with  his  wife  Mary  and  his  three  sons,  William, 
Roger,  and  George,  to  Dorchester,1  Massachusetts,  and  became 
the  founder  of  an  American  family,  now  widely  spread. 

Many  of  the  first  settlers  of  Dorchester  were  from  the  south- 
western counties  of  England.  They  arrived  in  1630,  less  than 
ten  years  after  the  settlement  of  the  Pilgrims  at  Plymouth. 
They  were  attracted  to  the  particular  site  by  the  salt-marsh, 
which  lay  along  the  bay  and  the  Neponset  River.  This  fur- 
nished an  immediate  supply  of  hay,  and  dispensed  with  the 
necessity  of  clearing  at  once  large  tracts  of  forest  land.  Among 
them  were  expert  fishermen,  who  were  pleased  to  find  at  hand 
this  means  of  support.  The  territory  which  they  selected  for 
their  new  home  presented  one  of  the  fairest  of  landscapes,  — 
diversified  with  upland  and  meadow,  the  Blue  Hills  and  the 
river. 

At  first,  the  organization  of  the  settlement  was  imperfect.  In 
1633,  a  local  government  was  organized ;  and  the  next  year  the 
town  sent  delegates  to  the  first  general  court  or  legislature.  The 
community  was  still  in  its  infancy,  when  William  Sumner  joined 

1  Annexed  to  Boston,  1870. 

VOL.    I.  1 


2  MEMOIR  OF   CHARLES   SUMNER.  [Chap.  I. 

it.  Two  children  were  born  to  him  after  his  arrival.  The  early 
records  show  that  he  entered  actively  on  his  duties  as  a  citizen. 
He  became  at  once  a  grantee  of  land.  "  He  was  made  a  freeman 
in  1637 ;  admitted  to  the  church  in  1652 ;  was  for  twelve  years 
a  deputy  to  the  general  court ;  a  selectman  twenty-three  years, 
nearly  half  the  time  from  1637  to  1688  ;  was  a  rater  for  five 
years,  and  a  commissioner  '  to  try  and  issue  small  causes '  for  nine 
years,  from  1663  to  1671  inclusive.  In  1645,  he  was  4  appointed 
one  of  a  committee  for  building  a  new  meeting-house,'  and  in 
1663  was  chosen  4  clerk  of  ye  training  band.'  " 

Roger,  the  second  son  1  of  the  emigrant  ancestor,  was  baptized 
at  Bicester,  Aug.  8,  1632.  Marrying  Mary  Josselyn,  of  Lan- 
caster, he  had  seven  children.  In  1660,  he  removed  from  Dor- 
chester to  Lancaster,  "  that  he  might,  with  other  Christians  at 
Lancaster,  join  together  for  the  gathering  of  a  church ;  "  but, 
after  the  destruction  of  that  town  by  the  Indians,  he  removed  to 
Milton  (set  off  from  Dorchester  and  incorporated  in  1662),  where 
he  became  the  deacon  of  the  first  church,  and  died  in  1698.  His 
fourth  son,  William,  who  was  born  about  1673,  had,  for  his  sev- 
enth child,  Seth,  who  was  born  in  1710,  and  became,  by  two  mar- 
riages, the  father  of  thirteen  children.  By  the  first  marriage 
he  had  Seth,  the  grandfather  of  Major-General  EdAvin  V.  Sum- 
ner, who  was  an  officer  of  the  regular  army,  served  in  the  Mexi- 
can War,  commanded  in  Kansas  during  a  part  of  the  controversy 
between  the  free-state  and  the  pro-slavery  men,  and  bore  a  dis- 
tinguished part  in  the  war  of  the  Rebellion.  By  the  second 
marriage 2  he  had  Job,  his  ninth  child,  who  was  the  father  of 
Charles  Pinckney  Sumner,  and  the  grandfather  of  Charles 
Sumner.3 

The  Sumners  who  remained  in  Dorchester  and  Milton  during 
the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries  were  generally  farmers, 

1  From  his  third  son,  George,  who  lived  on  Brush  Hill,  Milton,  descended,  in  the  fifth 
generation,  Increase  Sumner;  an  associate  justice  of  the  Supreme  Judicial  Court,  1782-97, 
and  the  successor  of  Samuel  Adams,  in  1797,  as  governor  of  the  Commonwealth. 

2  By  the  same  marriage  he  had,  as  his  thirteenth  and  last  child,  Jesse,  who  was  the 
father  of  Harriot,  the  second  wife  of  Nathan  Appleton  of  Boston,  a  member  of  Congress  in 
1831-33,  and  again  in  1842.  It  may  be  noted,  that  one  of  Mr.  Appleton's  daughters,  by  his 
first  marriage,  married  Robert  J.  Mackintosh,  who  was  the  son  of  Sir  James,  the  English 
publicist  and  historian ;  and  another  married  Henry  W.  Longfellow,  the  poet. 

8  The  following  are  reliable  authorities  concerning  the  genealogy  of  the  Sumner  Family: 
"  Memoir  of  Increase  Sumner,"  Governor  of  Massachusetts,  by  his  son,  William  H.  Sumner : 
together  with  a  genealogy  of  the  Sumner  Family,  prepared  by  William  B.  Trask ;  Boston, 
1854.  "  New  England  Historical  and  Genealogical  Register,"  April,  1854,  and  October,  1855. 
"History  of  East  Boston,"  by  William  H.  Sumner;  Boston,  1858;  pp.  278-307  (with  a 
drawing  of  the  St.  Edburg  Church).     "History  of  Dorchester;  "  Boston,  1859. 


Chap.  I]  ANCESTRY.  3 

owning  considerable  estates  in  fee-simple,  and  blessed  beyond  the 
usual  measure  with  large  families  of  children. 

The  Jacob  or  Jacobs  family,  —  the  maternal  ancestors  of 
Charles  Sumner,  —  begins  with  Nicholas  Jacob,  who  came  to 
this  country  from  Hingham,  England,  in  1633,  settled  in  Water- 
town,  and  removed  two  years  later  to  Hingham.1  His  son  John 
was  the  father  of  David,  the  grandfather  of  Joshua,  and  the 
great-grandfather  of  David,  Sr.,  who  was  born  in  Scituate  in 
1729,  and  died  in  1808.  David  Jacob,  Sr.,  the  grandfather  of 
Relief  Jacob,  who  became  the  wife  of  Charles  Pinckney  Sumner, 
owned  ample  estates,  held  public  offices,  and  served  on  the  Com- 
mittee of  Public  Safety  in  the  Revolution.  The  house,  which  he 
built  and  used  for  an  inn,  is  now  the  residence  of  Rev.  Robert  L. 
Killam.  It  is  situated  in  the  part  of  Hanover  known  as  Assi- 
nippi.  His  son  David,  Jr.,  who  was  born  in  Hanover  in  1763, 
married  Hannah  Hersey,2  of  Hingham,  and  died  in  1799,  at  the 
age  of  thirty-six.  His  home  was  but  a  short  distance  from  his 
father's,  and  its  site  is  now  occupied  by  the  residence  of  Perez 
Simmons.  The  first  child  of  David,  Jr.,  and  Hannah  (Hersey) 
Jacob  was  Hannah  R.,  who  died  in  1877.  Their  second  was 
Relief,  who  was  born,  Feb.  29,  1785,  and  became  the  mother  of 
Charles  Sumner.  The  Jacob  family  were  generally  farmers, 
residing  in  Hingham,  Scituate,  South  Scituate,  and  Hanover. 
They  were  marked  by  good  sense  and  steady  habits,  and  some 
of  them  discharged  important  civic  trusts. 

THE  GRANDFATHER  OF  CHARLES  SUMNER. 

Job  Sumner  was  born  in  Milton,  April  23, 1754.  The  house  on 
Brush  Hill,  Milton,  in  which  he  was  born  is  the  home  of  one  of 

1  For  the  genealogy  of  the  Jacob  family,  see  "History  of  Hanover,"  by  J.  S.  Barry, 
pp.  319-335;  and  for  that  of  the  Simmons  family,  pp.  371-374. 

2  She  was  a  descendant  of  William  Hersey,  an  emigrant  from  England,  who  was  in  Hing- 
ham as  early  as  1635.  To  him  a  numerous  family,  largely  still  resident  in  that  town,  trace 
their  lineage.  His  great-grandson,  Joshua,  married  a  descendant  of  Governor  William  Brad- 
ford, from  whom  Charles  Sumner  is  thus  descended.  Martha  Hersey,  a  sister  of  Mrs.  Relief 
Sumner's  mother,  married  Elisha  Simmons,  of  Hanover,  who  died,  in  1825,  at  the  age  of 
eighty.  The  site  of  his  residence  is  near  that  of  Perez  Simmons,  but  on  the  opposite  side  of 
the  way.  One  of  his  sons  was  William  Simmons,  a  graduate  of  Harvard  College,  of  the 
class  of  1804,  a  judge  of  the  police  court  of  Boston,  and  the  father  of  William  H.  Simmons, 
a  graduate  of  Harvard  College,  of  the  class  of  1831,  and  of  Rev.  George  F.  Simmons,  of  the 
class  of  1832.  Judge  Simmons  and  Charles  Pinckney  Sumner  were  faithful  friends,  and 
their  families  maintained  an  intimacy.  Joshua  Hersey,  a  brother  of  Mrs.  Relief  Sumner's 
mother,  lived  on  Prospect  Street  in  South  Hingham,  under  Prospect  Hill,  a  well-known  land- 
mark.   Upon  this  estate  now  live  his  children. 

■ 


4  MEMOIR  OF   CHARLES   SUMNER.  [Chap.  I. 

his  nephews,  being  near  the  residence  of  the  Hon.  James  M. 
Kobbins.  His  father  died  in  1771,  leaving  a  widow  and  twelve 
children ;  and,  two  years  later,  Thomas  Vose  was  appointed  his 
guardian.  Job  was  employed,  after  his  father's  death,  upon  the 
farm  of  Daniel  Vose 1  of  that  town  ;  and  one  day,  when  eighteen 
years  of  age,  he  made  known,  with  some  emphasis,  his  purpose 
to  abandon  that  occupation  and  to  obtain  a  liberal  education. 
When  twenty  years  old,  he  joined  the  Freshman  Class  of  Har- 
vard College.  He  entered  in  November,  1774,  not  being  suffi- 
ciently qualified  in  the  preparatory  studies  to  enter  in  July,  at 
the  time  of  the  regular  examination  for  admission. 

It  appears  by  the  records  of  the  college  on  the  fourth  of  that 
month,  that  "  Job  Sumner  of  Milton,  having  applied  for  admis- 
sion to  Harvard  College,  after  examination  had,  voted  that  upon 
condition  that  he  pay  into  the  college  the  sum  of  £6,  to  comply 
with  the  second  law  of  the  first  chapter  of  the  college  laws,  he 
be  admitted  into  the  present  Freshman  Class." 

His  most  distinguished  classmate  was  Nathan  Dane,  who  re- 
ported in  Congress  the  ordinance  of  1787  for  the  government  of 
the  North-west  Territory,  by  which  a  vast  domain  was  saved 
to  freedom.  Rev.  Samuel  Langdon  had  become  president  of  the 
college,  July  18,  1774.  Immediately  after  the  battle  of  Lex- 
ington (April  19,  1775),  Cambridge  became  the  head-quarters 
of  the  troops  for  the  siege  of  Boston,  then  held  by  the  British. 
The  students  were  ordered  to  leave  the  buildings,  which  were 
turned  into  barracks.  The  institution  was  temporarily  removed 
to  Concord.  Washington  arrived,  July  2 ;  and  on  the  next  day 
took  command  of  the  patriot  army  under  the  ancient  elm  which 
still  attracts  many  a  pilgrim.  Sumner  did  not  follow  his  teach- 
ers to  Concord,  but,  in  May,  joined  the  army  at  Cambridge,  with 
the  rank  of  an  ensign.  He  had  already  acquired  some  knowl- 
edge of  the  drill  in  a  college  company,  called  the  "  Marti-Mer- 
curian  Band,"  which  existed  in  the  years  1770-87,2  and  was 
afterwards  revived  as  the  Harvard  Washington  Corps. 

The  good  soldier,  though  his  text-books  had  been  for  ever  laid 

1  At  Mr.  Vose's  house,  still  standing  at  the  Lower  Mills  Village  in  Milton,  adjacent  to 
the  railway  station,  were  passed,  in  September,  1774,  the  Suffolk  Resolves,  which  have 
been  regarded  as  the  earliest  organized  demonstration  for  Independence  in  the  American 
colonies.  The  centenary  of  this  event  was  commemorated  in  this  historic  house,  by  proper 
ceremonies,  Sept.  9.  1874. 

2  "Reminiscences  of  the  Old  College  Company,  or  Marti-Mercurian  Band,"  in  "Colum- 
bian Centinel,"  Boston,  April  2,  1828,  by  Charles  Pinckney  Sumner.  References  to  this 
company  and  its  uniform  may  be  found  in  "The  Harvard  Book,"  Vol.  I  pp.  42,  67. 


Uhap.  I.]  ANCESTRY.  5 

aside,  was  kindly  remembered  by  his  college.  On  June  13, 1777, 
it  was  "  voted  that  all  the  charges  in  Sumner's  quarterly  bills, 
since  the  end  of  the  first  quarter  in  the  year  1775,  be  abated,  as 
he  has  been  engaged  in  the  army  ever  since  the  commencement 
of  the  war,  though  he  never  appeared  to  give  up  his  relation  to 
the  college." 

Again,  July  7,  1785,  two  years  after  Independence  was  ac- 
knowledged, it  was  voted  by  the  President  and  Fellows  (present 
the  President,  Governor  Bowdoin,  Mr.  Lowell,  Dr.  Harvard, 
Dr.  Lathrop,  and  the  Treasurer),  that  "  Major  Job  Sumner,  who 
was  admitted  into  the  University  A.  D.  1774,  and  who  entered 
the  service  of  his  country  in  the  army,  by  leave  from  the  late 
President,  early  in  the  contest  between  Great  Britain  and  the 
United  States  of  America,  and  who,  during  the  war,  behaved 
with  reputation  as  a  man  and  as  an  officer,  be  admitted  to  the 
degree  of  Master  of  Arts  at  the  next  commencement,  and  have 
his  name  inserted  in  the  class  to  which  he  belonged."  This 
vote  alone  entitled  him  to  registration  with  his  class  in  the  cata- 
logues of  the  alumni. 

He  served  as  lieutenant  in  Moses  Draper's  company  of  Thomas 
Gardner's  Massachusetts  regiment  at  Bunker  Hill,1  and  in  Bond's 
(25th)  regiment  at  the  siege  of  Boston  and  the  invasion  of 
Canada ;  was  commissioned  captain  in  the  Second  Massachusetts 
regiment,  April  7,  1779,  to  date  from  July  1,  1776  (commission 
signed  by  John  Jay,  President  of  Congress)  ;  captain  in  the 
Third  (Greaton's)  Massachusetts  regiment,  Sept.  29,  1779,  to 
date  from  Jan.  1,  1777  ;  and  again,  Sept.  16,  1782,  to  date  from 
Jan.  1,  1777 ;  and  major,  March  4,  1783,  to  date  from  Oct.  1, 
1782.     His  several  commissions  are  preserved. 

The  following  sketch  of  Major  Sumner  is  combined  from  two 
manuscript  sketches  left  by  his  son,  with  some  abridgment :  — 

On  the  21st  of  April,  1776,  the  regiments  under  Colonels 
Greaton,  Patterson,  Bond,  and  Poor  were  sent,  after  the  evacu- 
ation of  Boston  by  the  British,  to  succor  the  remnants  of  Mont- 
gomery's army,  then  hard  pressed  and  on  their  retreat  from 
Canada.  In  one  of  these  regiments  Sumner  was  a  lieutenant,  — 
healthful,  active,  and  intelligent.  By  the  invitation  of  his  gen- 
eral officers,  Schuyler  and  Arnold,  he  was  induced  to  quit  for  a 
while  his  station  in  the  line  and  enter  the  flotilla  of  gunboats, 
which  those  generals  found  it  necessary  to  equip  on  Lake  Cham- 

1  Memorials  of  the  Massachusetts  Society  of  the  Cincinnati,  by  Francis  S.  Drake. 


6  MEMOIR  OF  CHARLES   SUMNER.  [Chap.  I 

plain.1  In  this  service,  in  which  he  was  appointed  captain,  July 
1,  1776,  by  General  Arnold,  he  distinguished  himself  as  com- 
mander of  one  of  the  armed  vessels.  On  this  account,  by  recom- 
mendation of  the  Board  of  War,  which  reported  that  in  this 
service  he  had,  "  in  several  actions,  behaved  with  great  spirit 
and  good  conduct,"  Congress  voted,  April  7,  1779,  that  he  have 
a  commission  as  captain  in  the  army,  to  rank  as  such  from 
July  1,  1776.2 

Captain  Sumner  was  placed  at  the  head  of  a  company  of 
light  infantry.  He  was  attached  to  the  division  of  the  army, 
whose  head-quarters  were  at  or  near  West  Point.  His  com- 
pany was  frequently,  for  weeks  and  months  together,  some  miles 
in  advance  of  the  division,  either  up  or  down  the  North  River,  in 
some  exposed  position,  at  Verplanck's  Point,  Fishkill,  or  Peeks- 
kill.     His  command  involved  constant  activity. 

While  serving  under  General  Heath,  he  was  impressed  with 
the  characteristic  difference  between  that  officer  and  General 
Arnold,  under  whom  he  had  served  on  the  northern  frontier  in 
1776.  He  said  to  General  Heath,  one  day,  that  he  hoped  at  some 
time  to  see  more  of  the  hazards  of  war,  and  to  meet  them  on  a 
larger  theatre.  The  general,  who  was  a  prudent  rather  than  an 
adventurous  officer,  replied :  "I  am  placed  here  to  retain  the 
fortress  of  West  Point,  and  not  to  seek  battles.  You  have  as 
exposed  a  duty  as  can  be  assigned  to  you,  —  the  separate  com- 
mand of  a  company  at  an  advanced  post.  If  the  officers  of  such 
posts  are  known  to  relax  in  their  vigilance,  we  may  expect  a 
general  battle  very  soon  ;  which  I  hope  you  will  have  no  share 
in  bringing  on.  If  my  division  enjoys  an  unusual  exemption 
from  the  clash  of  arms,  it  is  what  I  want ;  and  I  am  thankful 
that  I  have  such  active  and  faithful  outposts." 

For  some  days  Sumner  had  charge  of  the  guard  of  Major 
Andre*,  while  he  was  under  arrest  and  sentence  of  death ;  held 
frequent  conversations  with  him,  and  conceived  sincere  respect 
for  that  unfortunate  officer. 

Lieutenant-Colonel  (afterwards  General)  William  Hull  com- 
manded a  detachment  of  light  infantry,  cavalry,  and  artillery, 
which  guarded  New  York  in  the  autumn  of  1783,  during  the 
evacuation  of  the  city  by  the  British  troops.      Major  Sumner 

1  An  account  of  this  flotilla  may  be  found  in  Marshall's  "Life  of  Washington,"  Vol.  III. 
pp.  4-10;  Irving's  "  Life  of  Washington,"  Vol.  II.  p.  384,  ch.  xxxix. 

2  Journals  of  Congress,  Vol.  V.  p.  140. 


Chap.  L]  ANCESTRY.  7 

was  his  second  in  command.1  The  force  was  necessary  for  the 
protection  of  the  city  while  the  British  soldiers  and  partisans 
were  embarking  in  the  ships,  and  the  former  proprietors  were 
resuming  possession  of  their  homes.2 

The  command  of  the  detachment,  during  the  evacuation  and 
for  some  time  afterwards,  devolved  largely  upon  Major  Sumner. 
General  Washington,  Dec.  4,  1783,  immediately  after  taking 
leave  of  his  officers  at  Fraunces'  Tavern,  passed  through  this 
battalion  of  light  infantry,  and  received  from  it  the  last  military 
salute  of  the  Revolutionary  army. 

One  regiment,  formed  from  the  disbanded  army,  was  continued 
in  service  at  West  Point  a  few  months  after  the  discharge  of  the 
rest.  In  this  regiment,  Colonel  Henry  Jackson  was  first  in  rank, 
Lieutenant-Colonel  William  Hull  the  second,  Major  Caleb  Gibbs 
the  third,  and  Major  Sumner  the  fourth.  On  July  1,  1784,  his 
military  career  finally  closed. 

Major  Sumner  was  about  five  feet  and  ten  inches  in  height, 
rather  stout  in  person,  and  walked  rapidly,  bending  forward  and 
seemingly  intent  on  some  errand.  He  was  quick  in  observation, 
frank  in  his  intercourse  with  men,  and  liable  to  be  deceived. 
He  adapted  himself  readily  to  society  of  various  kinds,  and  was 
widely  acquainted  with  persons  of  every  grade  in  the  army.  He 
was  fond  of  a  soldier's  life,  and  never  repined  at  its  hardships. 
He  had  an  ear  and  voice  for  music,  and  delighted  in  hunting-songs 
and  marches  rather  than  in  psalmody.  "  He  enjoyed  books," 
we  are  told,  "  such  as  military  dictionaries,  State  constitutions, 
Shakspeare,  *  Don  Quixote,'  and  Smith's  'Wealth  of  Nations.' ' 
One  or  more  of  these  were  the  companions  of  his  travels,  and 
all  of  them  he  owned.  Two  relics  of  his  handwriting  remain,  — 
copies  of  lines  of  poetry,  one  from  Home's  "  Douglass,"  and  the 
other,  Othello's  apology. 

In  the  autumn  of  1785,  he  was  appointed  by  Congress  a  com- 
missioner for  settling  the  accounts  between  the  Confederation 
and  the  State  of  Georgia.     He  remained  in  that  State  until  his 

1  General  Hull,  in  a  letter  to  Charles  Pinckney  Sumner,  dated  March  12,  1825,  says : 
"Your  father  was  my  particular  friend,  and  we  served  together  in  those  memorable  scenes 
which  never  will  be  forgotten.  At  the  close  of  the  war  he  was  my  second  in  command,  in 
a  corps  of  light  infantry,  whose  fortune  it  was  to  escort  General  Washington  into  New  York, 
take  possession  of  that  city,  at  the  time  it  was  evacuated  by  the  British  army,  and  pay  the 
last  salutations  to  our  beloved  general  when  he  took  his  final  farewell  of  that  army  which  had 
followed  his  fortunes  through  the  trials  and  dangers  of  the  Revolutionary  contest." 

2  Sir  Guy  Carleton  had  reported  to  Washington  the  suspicion  of  a  plot  to  plunder  the 
city. 


8  MEMOIR  OF  CHARLES  SUMNER.  [Chap.  I 

death,  with  occasional  visits  to  his  friends  in  New  York  and 
Boston,  and  his  relatives  in  Milton.  When  in  Massachusetts,  he 
was  usually  the  guest  of  Daniel  Vose,  at  whose  house  in  Milton 
he  had  lived  before  he  entered  college. 

In  1787,  Governor  John  Hancock  appointed  him  a  justice  of 
the  peace,  —  a  distinction  then  less  common  than  now. 

Before  Major  Sumner  entered  upon  his  duties  as  commissioner, 
he  was  publicly  presented  by  the  Governor  of  Georgia  to  the 
General  Assembly.  Shortly  before  his  death,  he  is  said  to  have 
been  voted  for  as  Governor  of  that  State  in  the  General  Assem- 
bly, and  to  have  failed  of  success  by  only  a  few  votes.  He  main- 
tained there  an  expensive  style  of  living,  keeping  his  horse  and 
servant,  and  enjoying  the  best  and  most  fashionable  company. 
He  became  embarrassed  by  improvident  loans  to  his  friends 
at  home  and  in  the  South.  From  1784  to  1789,  poverty  and 
debt  prevailed.  In  a  letter  from  Savannah,  of  July  16,  1788, 
he  says :  "  There  never  was  a  man,  under  such  fair  prospects  as 
I  had  three  years  ago,  so  dreadfully  cut  up.  I  have  been  robbed 
by  almost  every  man  I  have  put  any  confidence  in.  They 
have  taken  all."  His  last  visit  to  Boston  was  in  the  summer  of 
1788.  It  was  then  observed  that  his  health  had  been  impaired 
by  his  southern  residence.  Early  in  September,  1789,  having 
lately  experienced  a  severe  attack  of  a  fever,  from  the  effects  of 
which  he  had  but  imperfectly  recovered,  he  embarked  on  board 
a  vessel  bound  from  Savannah  to  New  York.  While  at  sea,  he 
was  poisoned,  we  are  told,  by  eating  of  a  dolphin,  caught  off  the 
copper  banks  of  Cape  Hatteras.  The  vessel  made  a  rapid  pas- 
sage to  New  York,  reaching  there  on  the  14th,  and  he  was  taken 
on  shore  without  delay.  He  was  already  in  the  height  of  a  fever, 
and  bereft  of  reason  ;  and  he  died  on  the  morning  of  Wednesday, 
Sept.  16,  at  the  age  of  thirty-five.  He  was  buried  the  next  day 
with  the  respect  due  to  his  memory.  His  funeral  was  attended  by 
the  Vice-President  (John  Adams),  the  Secretary  of  War  (Henry 
Knox),  and  the  Senators  and  Representatives  in  Congress  from 
Massachusetts.1  His  pall  was  upheld  by  eight  officers  of  the  late 
army :  General  Webb,  and  Colonels  Bauman,  Walker,  Hamilton, 
Willet,  Piatt,  Smith,  and  White.  The  hearse  was  preceded  by 
a  regiment  of  artillery  and  the  Society  of  the  Cincinnati.2 

1  The  first  Congress  under  the  Constitution  was  then  in  session  in  New  York. 

2  New  York  Journal  and  Weekly  Register,  Sept.  16, 1789:  Gazette  of  the  United  States, 
Sept.  19,  1789 ;  Massachusetts  Centinel,  Sept.  26,  1789 


Chap.  I.] 


ANCESTRY. 


9 


The  tombstone  of  Major  Sumner  is  in  the  centre  of  St.  Paul's 
Churchyard,  on  Broadway.  It  is  by  the  side  of  that  of  Major  John 
Lucas  of  the  Georgia  line,  who  died  the  month  preceding.  Both 
stones, — lying  horizontally,  with  hardly  any  space  between  them, 
and  the  two  closing  lines  of  poetry  running  across  from  one  to 
the  other,  —  were  doubtless  erected  by  the  Society  of  the  Cincin- 
nati. That  of  Major  Sumner  gives  his  age  incorrectly,  —  it  being 
thirty-five  instead  of  thirty-three. 

The  inscriptions  are  as  follows :  — 


THIS  TOMB 

IS  ERECTED  TO  THE  MEMORY 

OF 

MAJOR    JOHN    LUCAS, 

OF  THE  GEORGIA  LINE  OF  THE  ARMY 

OF  THE  REVOLUTION, 

AND 

TREASURER  OF  THE  SOCIETY  OF 

THE    CINCINNATI  OF    THAT    STATE. 

HE  BORE 

A  SEVERE  AND  LINGERING  DECAY 

"WITH  THAT  FORTITUDE 

WHICH  EVER  MARKED  HIS  CHARACTER 

AS  A  SOLDIER, 

AND 

DIED   IN  THIS   CITY  ON   TUESDAY 

THE   18th    AUGUST,    1789, 

AGED  33  YEAKS. 

AlVce  in  arms  they  rang'd 
A/Uce  in  turn  to  Death 


AND 

THIS  TOMB  CONTAINS  THE  REMAINS 

OF 

MAJOR    JOB    SUMNER, 

OF 

THE  MASSACHUSETTS  LINE 

OF 

THE  SAME  ARMY, 

WHO, 

HAVING  SUPPORTED   AN   UNBLEMISHED 

CHARACTER  THROUGH  LIFE 

AS 

THE   SOLDIER,  CITIZEN,  AND   FRIEND, 

DIED  IN  THIS  CITY, 

AFTER    A    SHORT    ILLNESS, 

UNIVERSALLY  REGRETTED  BY  HIS 

ACQUAINTANCES, 

ON   THE   16th   DAY   OF    SEPT.,  1789, 

AGED  33  YEARS. 

the  Glorious  Field, 
the  victors  yeild. 


In  1799,  Charles  Pinckney  Sumner  sought  information  as  to 
the  tomb  from  a  correspondent  in  New  York.  In  1829,  at  his 
request,  his  son  Charles  visited  the  yard  and  wrote,  with  a  rough 
sketch,  an  account  of  its  site,  condition,  and  surroundings.  The 
father  caused  it,  soon  after,  to  be  repaired,  through  the  good 
offices  of  his  friend,  Colonel  Josiah  H.  Vose. 

Major  Sumner's  estate  was  valued  at  about  $12,000.  It  con- 
sisted chiefly  of  land- warrants,  one  of  which  was  for  forty-six 
hundred  acres,  and  of  securities  of  the  United  States  and  of  the 
State  of  Georgia,  which  had  risen  in  value  with  the  adoption  of 
the  National  Constitution.  The  most  interesting  items  of  the 
inventory  were  a  Shakspeare  in  eight  volumes,  Smith's  "  Wealth 
of  Nations,"  "  Don  Quixote,"  "  Junius,"  "  Adventures  of  Ferdi- 


10  MEMOIR  OF  CHARLES  SUMNER.  [Chap.  I. 

nand  Count  Fathom,"  "  Bos  well's  Tour,"  "Anecdotes  of  Dr. 
Johnson,"  and  a  "  History  of  England."  Among  other  books 
left  by  him  was  Lord  Chesterfield's  "  Letters  to  his  Son." 

His  traits  of  character  appear  quite  clearly  in  his  son's  manu- 
script records  and  the  traditions  of  his  birthplace.  He  was  a 
man  of  genuine  courage,  adventurous  spirit,  and  capacity  for 
affairs ;  generous  with  his  money,  and  faithful  in  all  trusts.  He 
took  life  merrily,  and  rejected  the  severity  of  the  Puritan  stand- 
ards. His  love  of  knowledge  was  attested  in  his  youth  by  his 
seeking  a  liberal  education  without  the  direction  of  a  parent  or 
guardian,  and  in  his  manhood  by  his  solicitude  for  the  careful 
training  of  his  son. 


Cjap.IL]  PARENTAGE  AND  FAMILY.  11 


CHAPTER    II. 
PARENTAGE   AND   FAMILY.  —  THE  FATHER. 

CHARLES  Pinckney  Sumner,  the  son  of  Major  Job  Sum- 
ner, was  born  in  Milton,  a  suburb  of  Boston.  His  name 
was  at  first  Job,  but  was  afterwards  changed  to  Charles  Pinck- 
ney by  his  father,  who  probably  had  friendly  relations  with  the 
South  Carolina  statesman.1  The  boy  passed  his  early  childhood 
on  the  farm  of  the  parish  sexton,  working  hard,  and  attend- 
ing in  winter  the  public  school.2  He  then  entered  Phillips 
Academy,  Andover,  Mass.,  at  that  time  under  the  charge  of 
Ebenezer  Pemberton,  and  was  placed  in  the  family  of  Rev. 
Jonathan  French,  the  minister  of  the  South  Parish  of  that 
town. 

Mr.  Pemberton  was  a  graduate  of  Princeton  College.  James 
Madison  and  Aaron  Burr  are  supposed  to  have  been  his  pupils. 
It  has  been  said  of  him  that  "  no  teacher  had  a  higher  character 
for  scholarship,  manners,  elegance,  and  piety."  While  of  a 
kindly  nature  and  beloved  by  his  pupils,  he  maintained  disci- 
pline and  respect  for  authority  after  the  old  style.  He  died, 
June  25,  1835,  at  the  age  of  eighty-nine.3  Rev.  Mr.  French  was 
of  Braintree  nativity.     He  was,  in  early  life,  a  soldier  and  subal- 

1  Charles  Pinckney  Sumner  contributed,  with  the  signature  of  "  An  Elderly  Man,"  a 
sketch  of  Charles  Pinckney  to  the  "  Patriot  and  Mercantile  Advertiser,"  March  4,  1828. 

2  On  Aug.  15,  1829,  he  wrote,  "  I  had  but  little  time  to  enjoy  the  society  of  anybody. 
I  scarcely  remember  the  time  from  my  eighth  to  my  twelfth  year,  when  all  the  summer 
long  I  did  not  perform  half  the  labor  of  a  man  in  the  field  from  sunrise  to  nearly  sundown, 
in  the  long  summer  days,  and  after  that  go  every  night  about  a  mile,  all  over  the  Milton 
Church  land,  for  the  cows." 

»  History  of  Andover,  by  Abiel  Abbot,  Andover,  1829;  Allen's  American  Biographi- 
cal Dictionary.  Edmund  Quincy,  in  his  "Life  of  Josiah  Quincy,"  p.  28,  says  of  Mr. 
Pemberton :  "  This  gentleman  lived  till  1836,  and  was  past  ninety  when  he  died.  I  well 
remember  the  handsome  old  man,  and  the  beautiful  picture  of  serene  and  venerable  age 
which  he  presented,  seeming  in  old-world  courtesy  and  costume  to  have  stepped  out  of  the 
last  century  into  this,  and  the  pride  with  which  he  spoke  of  the  eminent  men  who  had  been 
his  pupils,  and  especially  of  his  having  offered  two  presidents  —  Kirkland  and  Quincy  — 
to  Harvard."  A  sketch  of  Mr.  Pemberton,  written  by  Charles  Pinckney  Sumner,  is  printed 
in  the  "Daily  Advertiser  and  Patriot,"  July  15,  1835. 


12  MEMOIR   OF   CHAKLES   SUMNER.  [Chaf.  II. 

tern  officer  in  the  colonial  army.  While  so  engaged,  he  applied 
himself,  in  leisure  hours,  to  medical  studies.  He  began  to  prac- 
tise as  a  physician  ;  but,  changing  his  plan  of  life,  he  prepared 
for  college,  entered  Harvard,  and,  graduating  with  the  class  of 
1771,  became  a  clergyman.  He  maintained  zealously  the  patriot 
cause  during  the  Revolution.  Taking  with  him  his  gun  and 
surgical  instruments,  he  rode  on  horseback  to  Bunker  Hill  and 
shared  in  the  battle.  While  a  clergyman,  he  was  accustomed  to 
receive  students  of  the  academy  into  his  family.  At  the  sugges- 
tion of  Washington,  when  President,  Colonel  William  Augustus 
Washington  sent  his  two  sons,  Bushrod  and  Augustine,  to  the 
academy ;  and  Charles  Lee  also  sent  the  two  sons  of  his  deceased 
brother,  Richard  Henry  Lee.  The  young  Washingtons  were  re- 
ceived into  the  family  of  Rev.  Mr.  French.1  Josiah  Quincy  was, 
from  1778  to  1786,  an  inmate  of  Mr.  French's  family,  while 
pursuing  his  studies  at  the  academy  under  Mr.  Pemberton  and 
his  predecessor,  Dr.  Eliphalet  Pearson,  afterwards  Hancock  Pro- 
fessor at  Harvard  College.2  Mr.  French  has  been  commended 
for  his  fidelity  and  success  as  a  Christian  teacher.  He  died, 
July  28,  1809.3 

To  both  Mr.  Pemberton  and  Rev.  Mr.  French  Major  Sumner 
wrote  with  earnestness  concerning  the  education  of  his  son,  lay- 
ing much  stress  on  his  manners  as  well  as  his  progress  in  knowl- 
edge.    To  the  former  he  wrote,  Aug.  26,  1787  :  — 

"  It  rests  with  you,  sir,  entirely,  to  form  his  mind  while  young,  and  lead 
him  into  the  paths  of  virtue,  of  education,  and  good  breeding;  which  will 
redound  to  your  glory  and  his  felicity.  He  is  now  brought  into  a  new  line 
of  life,  and  will  probably  finish  his  education  under  your  direction.  Do  with 
him,  in  all  respects,  as  you  shall  think  most  proper.  ...  I  wish  the  child's 
manners  to  be  particularly  attended  to,  and  that  he  may  see  and  be  intro- 
duced to  as  much  company,  in  the  house  where  he  may  live  and  others,  as 
may  be  consistent  with  a  proper  attention  to  his  studies." 

The  letter  also  referred  to  "  the  army,  the  law,  physic,  or 
merchandise,"  as  the  boy's  future  occupation,  to  be  determined 
by  his  capacity  and  choice.  In  a  letter  written  in  October  of  the 
same  year  to  Rev.  Mr.  French,  he  enjoined  upon  him  to  correct 

1  Memoir  of  Hon.  Samuel  Phillips,  LL.D,  by  Rev.  John  L.  Taylor.  Boston,  1856. 
pp.  253-256. 

2  Life  of  Josiah  Quincy,  by  his  son,  Edmund  Quincy,  Boston,  1867,  p.  26,  where  an 
account  is  given  of  Mr.  French's  family  life. 

8  Sprague's  Annals  (Trinitarian  and  Congregational),  Vol.  II.  pp.  42-48,  containing  an 
account  by  Josiah  Quincy.    Memorial  of  Abigail  Stearns.    Boston,  1859. 


Chap.  II]  PARENTAGE.— THE  FATHER.  13 

Master  Charles's  "  mode  of  speaking,  his  spelling,  and  manner  of 
address,"  and  "  to  hold  frequent  discourse  of  reason  with  him,  and 
treat  him  as  you  would  a  child  of  your  own."  On  Nov.  6, 1787, 
he  wrote  from  New  York,  and  on  July  16,  1788,  from  Savannah, 
anxious  letters  in  relation  to  the  funds  for  the  boy's  maintenance, 
which  he  had  expected  his  friend  and  debtor,  General  (after- 
wards Governor)  Brooks,  to  advance.  Disappointed  in  this  re- 
source, and  lamenting  his  own  pecuniary  misfortunes,  he  relied 
upon  a  loan  from  a  friend.  But,  soon  after,  the  boy  was  taken 
from  the  school.  On  Oct.  9,  1788,  Major  Sumner,  then  in 
Boston,  wrote  to  Mr.  Pemberton, — 

"  I  like  the  appearance  and  improvement  of  Master  Charles,  for  the  short 
time  he  has  been  with  you,  very  much;  and  am  happy  to  hear  you  are  also 
pleased  with  him.  I  lament  his  having  been  from  you  so  long.  I  hope  no 
circumstance  in  future  will  prevent  his  being  with  you  continually.  I  desire 
you  would  put  him  into  all  the  studies  he  is  fit  for.  I  think  he  had  better  go 
into  Latin,  as  though  he  was  designed  for  college,  if  you  judge  this  study 
proper  for  him.  Whether  he  will  be  sent  there  or  not  will  depend  entirely 
on  his  disposition  for  study  and  your  opinion  of  his  genius.  However, 
for  the  present,  I  would  have  you  neglect  nothing  towards  him  necessary  for 
a  boy  so  intended.  If  he  discovers  an  active,  capable  mind,  I  shall  either 
send  him  there,  into  a  counting-house,  or  to  France  for  his  education,  accord- 
ing to  his  disposition  and  my  ability  to  support  him.  In  short,  I  mean  to 
give  him  every  opportunity  to  fit  him  for  a  gentleman  and  scholar  that  he 
himself  is  capable  of  receiving.  To  you,  sir,  I  consign  him  as  though  he 
were  your  son,  and  beg  from  my  heart  you  will  consider  him  as  such.  On 
himself  will  depend  his  fate.     I  hope  he  will  do  you  honor." 

On  Dec.  14,  1788,  eight  months  before  his  death,1  he  wrote 
from  Savannah  to  his  agent  in  Boston,  expressing  great  pleasure 
at  Charles's  return  to  school,  and  providing  carefully  for  his 
future  expenses,  so  that  no  further  interruption  might  occur  in 
his  studies.     In  this  letter  he  wrote, — 

"  Should  any  thing  take  place  that  I  should  not  make  you  regular  remit- 
tances, I  desire  you  to  call  on  my  friend,  General  Henry  Jackson.  I  know 
he  will  advance  thirty  or  fifty  dollars  at  any  time,  after  hearing  the  circum- 
stances, rather  than  see  Charles  taken  from  school.  Remittances  are  hard  to 
be  forwarded  from  this  place,  but  not  the  less  certain;  and  all  advances  made 
by  any  friend  of  mine  on  this  score,  I  will  repay  with  interest  and  gratitude. 
Give  my  love  to  Charles,  and  tell  him  I  expect  he  will  be  a  studious,  good 
boy,  and  learn  eloquence  and  manners,  as  well  as  wisdom  and  the  languages, 
at  the  academy.     These  are  the  grand  pillars  of  all  great  objects  and  great 

1  A  few  months  after  Major  Sumner's  death,  his  brother,  Dr.  Seth  Sumner,  was  appointed 
guardian  of  the  boy. 


14  MEMOIR   OF   CHARLES   SUMNER.  [Chap.  II 

men.     I  lay  great  stress  on  the  two  first  acquirements,  because  I  think  them 
very  essential,  and  by  far  the  most  difficult  for  Charles  to  attain." 

These  letters  prove  the  writer's  love  of  learning,  which  often- 
descends  with  the  blood.  The  patriotism  and  scholarly  tastes  of 
the  soldier,  who  closed  his  books  to  enter  his  country's  service 
at  the  first  drum-beat  of  the  Revolution,  were  to  be  the  inheri- 
tance of  his  illustrious  grandson. 

The  boy  remained  at  Phillips  Academy  till  1792,1  studying 
Cheever's  Latin  Accidence,  Nepos,  Caesar,  and  Virgil.  Late  in 
life  he  visited  Andover,  and  recalled  those  early  days  in  a  letter 
to  Mrs.  Abigail  Stearns,  the  daughter  of  Rev.  Mr.  French :  — 

"  I  went  to  Andover  a  few  weeks  ago,  to  look  at  the  places  which  I  began 
to  know,  28  August,  1787.  That  was  the  day,  fifty-one  years  ago,  when  I  first 
entered  your  father's  house  and  became  a  student  at  Phillips  Academy.  How 
changed  is  every  thing  now !  Fifty-one  years  ago  Andover  was  a  pleasant, 
noiseless  town :  now  it  is  a  bustling  manufacturing  village.  I  saw  no  old 
face  that  I  knew.  I  looked  over  and  about  the  land  that  was  once  your 
father's  parsonage.  It  is  now  divided  into  house-lots,  and  much  of  it  is  cov- 
ered with  buildings.  The  railroad  goes  close  to  your  native  mansion.  The 
large  rock  and  the  grape-vine  that  were  in  the  garden  still  remain,  but  the 
garden  is  no  more  a  garden.  There  are  no  currant  bushes;  nor  is  that  lead- 
lined,  square  box  to  be  found  in  which  your  father  caught  the  rain  as  it  fell, 
and  measured  its  depth  and  noted  it  down  in  his  meteorological  table.  The 
fence  of  your  front  yard  is  entirely  gone.  Those  beautiful  elms  are  cut  down, 
and  no  trace  of  them  remains.  From  the  summer  of  1787  to  that  of  1792, 
the  house,  the  elms,  the  woodland  (half-way  up  the  road  to  the  academy), 
and  the  fields  around,  all  looked  beautiful  to  my  eye.  That  pump  is  gone 
that  stood  in  the  low  ground  of  the  common,  between  your  house  and  the 
meeting-house.  How  often  have  I  seen  your  mother,  your  brother,  and  your 
sister  go  by  that  pump  or  near  it,  in  your  orderly  walk  together  on  the  Sab- 
bath, to  and  from  the  meeting-house!  "  2 

Charles  Pinckney  Sumner  entered  Harvard  College  in  1792, 
and  graduated  in  1796.  The  members  of  his  class  who  became 
most  widely  known  were  Dr.  James  Jackson,  the  eminent  phy- 
sician, who  survived  till  1867  ;  Rev.  Dr.  Leonard  Woods ;  and 
John  Pickering.3     His  college  quarterly-bills,  including  board 

1  A  medal  which  was  awarded  him  in  1789  is  preserved. 

2  Josiah  Quincy,  on  the  occasion  of  the  death,  in  December,  1858,  of  Mrs.  Stearns,  whose 
senior  he  was  by  four  years,  gave  pleasant  reminiscences  of  her  childhood,  and  of  his  resi- 
dence in  Mr.  French's  family  in  his  boyhood.  "Memorial  of  Madam  Abigail  Stearns,  with 
Funeral  Discourses  of  Rev.  Samuel  Sewall,  and  of  her  son,  Rev.  Jonathan  F.  Stearns." 
Boston,  1859. 

8  Charles  Sumner's  tributes  to  Mr.  Pickering  are  well  known.  "  Biographical  Sketch 
of  the  late  John  Pickering,"  Works,  Vol.  I.  p.  214;  "The  Scholar  (Mr.  Pickering),  the 
Jurist,  the  Artist,  the  Philanthropist,"  Works    Vol.  I.  p.  241. 


Chap.  II.  I  PAKENTAGE.  — THE  FATHER.  15 

in  commons  and  tuition,  varied  from  twenty-eight  to  tliirty-six 
dollars. 

In  college  his  compositions  were  largely  poetical.  Among  his 
themes  of  this  kind  were,  "  Non  omnia  possum  us  omnes,"  "  Win- 
ter," and  a  "Dialogue  between  Churchill  the  Warrior  and 
Churchill  the  Poet."  At  the  end  of  his  Junior  year,  he  deliv- 
ered before  the  Speaking  Club  a  valedictory  poem,  on  the  occa- 
sion of  his  classmates  leaving  it.  At  the  exhibition  in  September, 
1795,  his  part  was  a  poem,  entitled  "  The  Compass,"  which  was 
printed  in  a  pamphlet.     It  contains  these  lines  :  — 

"  More  true  inspir'd,  we  antedate  the  time 
When  futile  war  shall  cease  thro'  every  clime; 
No  sanction'd  slavery  Afric's  sons  degrade, 
But  equal  rights  shall  equal  earth  pervade."  * 

When  his  class  had  completed  their  studies,  he  delivered  (June 
21, 1796)  a  valedictory  poem  in  the  College  Chapel,  in  the  pres- 
ence of  the  officers  and  students,  in  which  his  muse,  after  the 
style  of  such  performances,  recognized  gratefully  the  instruc- 
tions of  President  Willard  and  Professors  Tappan,  Pearson,  and 
Webber. 

His  part  at  Commencement  was  a  poem  on  "  Time."  Two 
years  later,  he  delivered  a  poem  before  the  Phi  Beta  Kappa  So- 
ciety. This  taste  for  versification  lasted  during  most  of  his  life. 
He  wrote  many  odes  for  the  anniversaries  of  benevolent  societies, 
and  for  patriotic  or  festive  occasions,  and  New- Year's  addresses 
for  the  carriers  of  newspapers. 

One  of  his  best  passages  in  verse  is  the  following,  given  as  a 
sentiment  at  the  Doric  Hall  of  the  State  House,  July  4,  1826 : 
"  The  United  States,  one  and  indivisible  !  " 

"  Firm,  like  the  oak,  may  our  blest  Union  rise; 
No  less  distinguished  for  its  strength  than  size ; 
The  unequal  branches  emulous  unite, 
To  shield  and  grace  the  trunk's  majestic  height; 
Through  long  succeeding  years  and  centuries  live, 
No  vigor  losing  from  the  aid  they  give."  2 

It  was  then  the  fashion  for  aspiring  youth  to  attempt  verses 
after  the  style  of  Pope's  grave  and  sonorous  periods.     But  there 

1  As  a  grateful  acknowledgment  of  this  poem,  his  college  friends  presented  him  with 
copies  of  Shakspeare  and  Young's  "Night  Thoughts." 

•  2  This  is  quoted  by  Charles  Sumner  at  the  close  of  his  address,  "Are  We  a  Nation," 
delivered  Nov.  19,  1867:  Works,  Vol.  XII.  p.  249. 


16  MEMOIR  OF  CHARLES   SUMNER.  [Chap.  II. 

was  little  of  genuine  inspiration  in  American  poetry  prior  to  the 
period  which  gave  to  it  Bryant,  Longfellow,  Whittier,  Holmes, 
and  Lowell. 

Leaving  college,  young  Sumner  accepted  the  place  of  an  assist- 
ant in  the  Billerica  Academy,  of  which  his  former  teacher,  Mr. 
Pemberton,  had  become  the  principal.  While  here  he  received 
a  playful  letter  from  his  classmate,  Leonard  Woods,  then  at 
Cambridge,  who  had  been  enlivening  his  theological  studies, 
which  he  had  pursued  at  Princeton,  with  the  reading  of  "  Don 
Quixote,"  "  Cecilia,"  and  other  novels ;  Shakspeare,  Ossian, 
Pope,  and  the  "Spectator;"  and  admiring  "Belfield"  in  "Ce- 
cilia," and  "the  character  of  Sancho,  Esq."  Remaining  at 
Billerica  but  a  short  time,  he  obtained,  through  the  influence 
of  Rev.  Dr.  Freeman  and  Colonel  Samuel  Swan,  of  Dorchester, 
a  place  as  assistant  in  the  private  school  of  Rev.  Henry  Ware 
at  Hingham,  on  a  salary  of  X150,  with  special  reference  to  the 
instruction  of  two  lads,  one  of  whom  was  John  Codman,  after- 
wards the  pastor  of  the  second  church  in  Dorchester. 

An  intimate  friendship  had  grown  up  in  college  between 
Sumner  and  Joseph  Story,  of  Marblehead,  who  was  two  years 
his  junior  in  the  course.  A  correspondence  ensued.  Their  let- 
ters are  playful,  and  hopeful  of  the  future.  Sumner's  letters 
refer  to  books  and  poems  he  had  read,  as  "  Hogarth  Moralized," 
Roberts'  "  Epistle  to  a  Young  Gentleman  on  leaving  Eton  School," 
Masson's  "  Elegy  to  a  Young  Nobleman  leaving  the  University," 
Pope's  "  Eloisa  to  Abelard,"  Goldsmith's  "  Edwin  and  Ange- 
lina," Shenstone's  "  Pastoral  Ballad,"  and  some  pieces  in  En- 
field's "Speaker." 

Sumner  did  not  persevere  as  a  teacher.  In  1797-98  he  passed 
nearly  a  year  in  the  West  Indies.  He  then  began  the  study  of 
law  with  Judge  George  R.  Minot,  an  historical  writer  and  effec- 
tive public  speaker.  As  early  as  1799  he  accepted  an  invitation 
from  Josiah  Quincy  to  a  desk  in  his  law-office ;  and  was,  while 
the  relation  continued,  accustomed  to  have  charge  of  the  office, 
and  to  sleep  in  Mr.  Quincy's  house  on  Pearl  Street  during  his 
absences  from  the  State. 

Mr.  Quincy  was  soon  absorbed  in  politics,  as  a  leader  of  the 
Federal  party,  and  severed  his  active  connection  with  the  pro- 
fession ;  but  he  remained  the  friend  of  his  pupil,  notwithstanding 
their  differences  in  politics,  which  made  sharp  divisions  in  society 
in  those  days.     Mr.  Sumner,  in  company  with  Richard  Sullivan 


Chap.  11]  PARENTAGE.  — THE  FATHER.  17 

and  Holder  Slocum,  was  proposed  as  an  attorney  in  the  Court  of 
Common  Pleas  in  Boston,  at  the  April  Term,  1801  (May  7)  ; 
and  admitted  to  practice  at  the  July  Term  (July  11),  before 
Chief  Justice  Shearjashub  Bourne  and  his  associates,  William 
Dennison  and  Samuel  Cooper.  His  office  was  at  one  time  on 
Court  Street,  at  number  ten  and  a  half,  on  the  north  side ;  and 
later  at  number  ninety,  according  to  the  numbers  of  that 
period. 

For  some  time  in  1802-3  he  was  at  the  South,  attending  to 
business  which  grew  out  of  his  father's  estate.  He  remained 
three  months  at  Savannah,  in  the  early  part  of  1803,  and  was 
present  at  trials  in  which  John  M.  Berrien,  then  a  young  man, 
won  his  first  distinction. 

He  delivered,  Feb.  22,  1800,  when  twenty-four  years  of  age,  a 
eulogy  on  Washington,  then  recently  deceased.  The  occasion 
was  a  commemorative  service  at  Milton,  his  native  town,  where 
he  spoke  upon  the  invitation  of  the  selectmen.  Pieces  of  music 
were  performed,  and  a  prayer  was  offered  by  Rev.  Joseph  McKean. 
The  eulogy  was  printed,  at  the  request  of  the  selectmen  and 
other  citizens. 

The  following  passages  are  specimens  :  — 

"  Americans!  what  a  vast  weight  of  your  revolution  did  this  mighty  man 
sustain !  Taxes  were  indeed  great,  were  burdensome ;  but  think  how  often 
your  army  was  obliged  to  evade  a  decisive  blow ;  think  of  the  complicated 
hardships  they  endured  (the  relation  of  which  might  make  you  shudder) 
because  the  flame  of  public  spirit  too  soon  died  away,  and  the  resources  of 
the  country  had  become  inaccessible.  What  must  Washington  have  often 
felt!  Every  eye  in  America,  in  wondering,  doubtful  Europe,  was  fixed  on 
him.  He  was  a  man  of  humanity;  not  a  sentinel  felt  a  grievance  he  did 
not  painfully  commiserate.  He  was  a  man  of  consummate  bravery;  and,  to 
add  to  the  full  measure  of  his  calamity,  the  country,  whose  fate  was  hourly 
in  his  hand,  began  to  murmur,  to  reproach  him  with  delay.  Delicate  situ- 
ation! Unconquerable  greatness  of  soul!  His  reputation,  dearer  to  a  soldier 
than  life,  he  sacrificed  to  your  good.  .  .  . 

"  For  a  life  devoted  to  your  service,  what  does  Washington  deserve  ?  The 
rising  trophied  column  shall  from  far  attract  the  admiring  eye.  The  endur- 
ing statue,  with  emulative  care,  will  present  to  revering  posterity  his  august 
attitude  and  awful  form.  History  shall  be  immortal,  as  just  to  his  worth. 
Poesy  shall  robe  him  in  unborrowed  charms.  A  city,  after  the  majestic 
model  of  his  mind,  bearing  his  name,  shall  concentrate  our  national  glory, 
as  he  does  our  affection.  These  a  grateful  empire  will  voluntarily  pay;  but 
he  deserves  more  :  he  deserves  that  you  be  faithful  to  yourselves,  that  you 
be  free,  united,  and  happy;  that  party  asperity  from  this  memorable  day 
tot.,  i.  2 


18  MEMOIR  OF  CHARLES   SUMNER.  [Chap.  II. 

subside;   and  all,  with  liberal  eye,  seek  private  interest   in  the  common 
weal." 

Mr.  Sumner  did  not  become  actively  interested  in  politics  till 
1803,  near  the  close  of  Mr.  Jefferson's  first  administration.1 
The  antagonism  between  the  Federal  party,  which  opposed 
Mr.  Jefferson,  and  the  Republican  or  Democratic  party,  which 
sustained  him,  was  at  its  height.  The  Federalists,  as  a  minor- 
ity, had  departed  from  the  traditions  of  Washington's  admin- 
istration, and  to  a  great  degree  had  become  the  partisans  of 
State  sovereignty  and  a  New  England  confederacy.  These 
notions  repelled  the  sympathies  of  many  who  had  borne  their 
name,  and  led  to  the  secession  of  John  Quincy  Adams  from  the 
party. 

Mr.  Sumner's  first  political  address  was  delivered  at  Milton, 
March  5,  1804.  It  was  a  plea  for  the  integrity  of  the  Union, 
for  a  common  love  of  all  its  sections,  for  faith  in  popular  gov- 
ernment, and  for  confidence  in  the  national  administration,  and 
in  Mr.  Jefferson,  its  head.     The  young  orator  said  :  — 

"  And  has  it  come  to  this,  that  the  Union  must  be  dissolved  ?  Because  a 
particular  set  of  men  cannot  engross  the  government,  must  there  be  no  gov- 
ernment at  all  ?  Shall  party  attachments  supersede  national  allegiance  ? 
Shall  State  jealousies  be  summoned  from  the  dead  to  overthrow  the  magnifi- 
cent structure  of  the  Union,  which  we  have  fondly  hoped  to  see  founded  on 
their  tomb?  " 

On  July  4,  1808,  he  delivered  an  address  in  the  Third  Bap- 
tist Meeting-house  in  Boston.  It  was  an  earnest  defence  of  Mr. 
Jefferson's  administration,  and  a  protest  against  any  national 
alliance  with  England  against  France,  which  the  Federal  party 
was  charged  with  favoring.  It  rebuked,  with  great  emphasis, 
sectional  jealousies :  — 

"  There  is,  indeed,  no  diversity  of  interest  between  the  people  of  the  North 
and  the  people  of  the  South ;  and  they  are  no  friends  to  either  who  endeavor 
to  stimulate  and  embitter  the  one  against  the  other.  What  if  the  sons  of 
Massachusetts  rank  high  on  the  roll  of  Revolutionary  fame  ?  The  wisdom 
and  heroism  for  which  they  have  been  distinguished  will  never  permit  them 
to  indulge  an  inglorious  boast.  The  independence  and  liberty  we  possess  are 
the  result  of  '  joint  councils  and  joint  efforts,  of  common  dangers,  sufferings, 

1  Letter  of  Charles  Pinckney  Sumner,  published  Aug.  29,  1811,  in  the  "  Commercial 
Gazette,"  Boston,  dated  Aug.  23,  1811,  replying  to  the  charge  that  he  is  an  "apostate." 
This  letter  was  copied  in  the  "  National  Intelligencer."  In  another  letter  he  denied  having 
been  at  any  time  a  member  of  "  a  Jacobin  club." 


Chap.   II.]  PARENTAGE.  —  THE  FATHER.  19 

and  successes ; '  and  God  forbid  that  those  who  have  every  motive  of  sympathy 
and  interest  to  act  in  concert  should  ever  become  the  prey  of  petty  bicker- 
ings among  themselves! "  * 

In  a  similar  spirit  lie  wrote,  in  1812 :  — 

41  De  Witt  Clinton,  I  fear,  will  be  the  advocate  for  State  sovereignty  and 
State  supremacy  more  than  any  President  we  have  yet  had.  If  so,  and  he 
should  be  President  from  March  3,  1813,  to  March  3,  1817,  we  shall  be  far 
advanced  on  the  road  to  confusion  by  the  time  his  administration  expires. 
The  Federal  party  seems  to  be  disposed  to  erect  New  England  into  a  separate 
government.  But  where  would  be  the  boundaries  of  this  fragment  of  our 
continent  ?  What  will  be  the  benefit  of  a  separation  ?  Would  not  this 
fragment  soon  be  split  into  other  fragments;  and  if  the  process  of  sepa- 
ration is  begun,  where  will  it  end  ?  " 

Mr.  Sumner's  public  efforts  belong  to  the  least  interesting 
period  of  American  literature,  the  first  quarter  of  the  present 
century.  It  followed  the  generation  which  was  illustrated  by 
the  orators  and  writers  of  the  Revolution,  and  the  authors  of 
the  "  Federalist ;"  and  it  preceded  the  demonstration  of  Mr.  Web- 
ster's marvellous  forensic  powers.  It  was  an  interval  in  which 
political  speeches  and  writings  showed  little  originality  of  thought, 
depth  of  feeling,  or  terseness  and  vigor  of  expression.  There 
was  a  manifest  effort  to  use  words  of  Latin  derivation,  and  to 
elaborate  lengthened  and  swelling  periods,  after  the  style  of 
Johnson  and  Gibbon.  Letter-writing,  too,  had  the  same  defects. 
The  correspondence  of  friends  had  the  stateliness  of  a  page  of 
history. 

Mr.  Sumner  enjoyed  the  confidence  of  his  party.  He  was 
chosen  Clerk  of  the  House  of  Representatives  of  Massachusetts, 
for  the  years  1806-7,  and  1810-11.  The  last  two  years  he  was 
associated  with  his  college  friend,  Joseph  Story,  who  was  the 
Speaker.  Story,  on  resigning  the  office,  soon  after  his  appoint- 
ment as  Judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  wrote 
him  a  letter,  stating  it  to  be  his  last  official  act,  and  expressing 
his  "  perfect  conviction  of  the  ability,  the  correctness,  and  impar- 
tiality with  which  you  have  discharged  the  important  duties  of 
your  office."  In  1808,  he  desired  Mr.  Sumner  to  become  the 
editor  of  a  Republican  newspaper  in  Boston,  and  pressed  his 
excellent  qualifications  for  the  position.  In  1815,  Mr.  Sumner 
urged  Judge  Story  to  deliver  a  series  of  law  lectures  in  Boston, 
but  the  judge  declined,  for  the  reason  that  the  Royall  Profes- 
sorship was  about  to  be  established  at  Cambridge,  and  a  course. 


20  MEMOIR  OF  CHARLES   SUMNER.  [Chap.  II 

delivered  by  himself,  would  be  considered  to  be  in  competition 
with  it. 

Mr.  Sumner's  earnestness  and  activity  as  a  partisan  were  con- 
fined to  this  early  period  of  his  life.  When  he  became  sheriff, 
he  ceased  to  exert  political  influence,  or  to  cherish  any  strong 
preference  for  one  party  over  another.  After  that  he  seldom 
voted,  and  did  not  sympathize  with  the  partisan  bitterness  of  the 
day.  His  favorite  notion,  for  the  rest  of  his  life,  was  that  it 
was  the  duty  of  a  good  citizen  to  speak  well  of,  and  to  sustain, 
the  powers  that  be. 

He  was  admitted,  in  1803,  into  the  Society  of  the  Cincinnati, 
as  the  successor  of  his  father. 

Mr.  Sumner  was  married,  April  25,  1810,  to  Relief  Jacob,  of 
Hanover.  They  had  formed  an  acquaintance  while  both  were 
boarding  with  Captain  Adams  Bailey,  on  South-Russell  Street. 
Miss  Jacob,  at  the  time  of  her  marriage,  was  living  with  Shepard 
Simonds,  on  the  corner  of  May  (Revere)  and  South-Russell 
Streets.  She  had,  since  leaving  Hanover,  been  earning  her  live- 
lihood with  her  needle,  upon  work  received  at  her  room.  Cross- 
ing the  street  from  the  Simonds  house,  they  were  married  by 
Justice  Robert  Gardner,  in  their  new  home,  a  frame  house 
which  they  had  hired,  situated  at  the  West  End,  on  the  south- 
east corner  of  May  (Revere)  and  Buttolph  (Irving)  Streets, 
occupying  a  part  of  what  is  now  the  site  of  the  Bowdoin  school 
house.  Here  eight  of  their  children,  all  but  the  youngest,  Julia, 
were  born.  Mr.  Sumner  occupied  this  house,  as  a  tenant,  till 
1825,  or  early  in  1826,  when,  soon  after  his  appointment  as 
sheriff,  he  hired  number  sixty-three  (then  fifty-three)  Hancock 
Street,  opposite  the  site  of  the  Reservoir.  In  1830,  he  purchased 
number  twenty  Hancock  Street,  which  was  occupied  at  the  time 
by  Rev.  Edward  Beecher.  He  removed  to  this  house  in  Novem- 
ber, and  resided  in  it  during  the  rest  of  his  life.  The  family 
retained  the  estate  until  it  was  sold,  in  1867,  to  Judge  Thomas 
Russell. 

Mr.  Sumner  was  a  well-read  lawyer.  His  memorandum-books, 
which  are  preserved,  contain,  in  his  handwriting,  copies  of  the 
rules  of  court,  forms  of  pleading,  references  to  authorities  on 
various  points  of  law  and  practice,  and  careful  digests  of  law  in 
different  branches,  showing  him  to  have  been  faithful  and  pains- 
taking in  his  profession.  But  he  did  not,  for  some  reason,  succeed 
in  it.     His  mind  lacked,  perhaps,  the  vigor  and  aggressiveness 


Chap.   II.]  PARENTAGE.  — THE  FATHER.  21 

which  qualify  for  forensic  controversies,  or  even  the  aptitude  for 
affairs  which  is  needed  in  office  business.  His  professional  work 
was  mainly  the  collection  of  bills,  and  these  rarely  of  large 
amounts.  He  appears,  as  early  as  1808,  to  have  desired  some 
official  post,  with  a  view  to  increasing  his  revenues. 

In  1819,  he  left  the  bar  to  become  a  deputy-sheriff,  a  transition 
which  then  subjected  a  lawyer  to  less  comment  than  it  would 
now.  He  was  impressed  with  his  inability  to  increase  his  pro- 
fessional income,  so  as  to  educate  his  children,  then  five  in 
number.  His  condition  of  health,  as  he  stated  at  the  time, 
advised  a  less  sedentary  occupation  than  he  had  been  following. 
To  Josiah  Quincy,  whom  he  called  his  "  master,"  he  wrote  an 
apologetic  note,  stating  his  proposed  change  of  life.  William 
Minot,  and  other  members  of  the  bar  who  knew  his  worth, 
volunteered  to  be  his  sureties.  The  revenues  of  his  office  proved 
to  be  less  than  a  thousand  dollars  a  year.  In  1823,  he  declined 
the  office  of  City  Marshal,  tendered  him  by  Mr.  Quincy,  then 
Mayor. 

In  1825,  his  affairs  took  a  favorable  turn.  On  Sept.  6,  by 
appointment  of  Governor  Levi  Lincoln,  he  became  sheriff  of 
Suffolk  County;  succeeding  Joseph  Hall,  who  had  been  ap- 
pointed Judge  of  Probate.  This  office  he  continued  to  hold  till 
April  11,  1839,  thirteen  days  before  his  death.  His  first  com- 
mission was  during  pleasure.  Under  a  later  statute,  which  fixed 
a  term  of  five  years  for  the  office,  he  was  reappointed  by  Gov- 
ernor Lincoln,  March  14,  1831,  and  afterwards  by  Governor  Ed- 
ward Everett,  March  23,  1836.  To  relieve  them  from  fancied 
embarrassment,  he  at  different  times  volunteered  a  resignation, 
which  they  declined  to  accept.  The  letters  and  action  of  Gov- 
ernor Everett,  particularly  at  the  time  of  the  sheriff's  last 
appointment,  which  met  with  some  opposition,  are  highly  cred- 
itable to  him.  They  show  how  careful  the  Governor  was,  in 
his  consideration  of  personal  questions,  not  to  do  injustice  to 
any  one. 

The  office  of  sheriff,  to  which  is  attached  the  custody  of  the 
jail,  brought  Mr.  Sumner  an  annual  revenue  varying  from  $2,000 
to  $3,000,  and  once  or  twice  considerably  exceeding  the  larger 
sum.  With  this  assured  income  he  had,  in  1828,  accumulated 
$17,000 ;  in  1830,  $27,000 ;  and  at  his  decease,  in  1839,  his  prop- 
erty was  valued  at  nearly  $50,000.  The  office  enabled  him  to 
give  his  son  Charles  a  liberal  education.     He  always  entertained 


22  MEMOIR  OF  CHARLES   SUMNER.  [Chap.  II. 

the  liveliest  gratitude  to  Governor  Lincoln,  accounting  him,  in 
a  letter  to  him,  Jan.  21,  1834,  his  "  greatest  earthly  benefactor," 
as,  without  his  favor,  he  "  should  not  probably  have  sent  a  son 
to  college."  Governor  Lincoln  answered,  as  he  retired  from 
office,  in  terms  appreciative  of  the  sheriff's  personal  and  official 
character. 

The  sheriff's  sureties,  on  his  official  bond,  were  William 
Sullivan,  William  Minot,  Samuel  Hubbard,  William  Prescott, 
John  Heard,  Jr.,  Timothy  Fuller,  and  Asaph  Churchill.  These 
well  known  names  show  his  high  standing  in  the  confidence  of 
the  community. 

Mr.  Sumner's  home  life,  which  before  his  appointment  as 
sheriff  had  been  regulated  with  severe  economy,  was  now  more 
generously  maintained.  Twice  a  year,  at  the  opening  of  the 
Supreme  Judicial  Court,  he  gave  a  dinner  to  the  judges,  the 
chaplain,  and  members  of  the  bar  and  other  gentlemen.  He 
gathered,  on  these  festive  occasions,  such  guests  as  Chief  Justices 
Parker  and  Shaw,  Judges  Prescott,  Putnam,  Wilde,  Morton, 
Hubbard,  Thacher,  Simmons,  Solicitor  General  Davis,  Governor 
Lincoln,  Josiah  Quincy,  John  Pickering,  Harrison  Gray  Otis, 
William  Minot,  Timothy  Fuller,  Samuel  E.  Sewall ;  and,  among 
the  clergy,  Gardiner,  Tuckerman,  Greenwood,  Pierpont,  and  Ly- 
man Beecher.  His  son  Charles,  and  his  son's  classmates,  Hop- 
kinson  and  Browne,  were,  once  at  least,  among  the  youngest 
guests.  He  gave  a  dinner,  in  1831,  to  surviving  classmates ;  at 
which  were  present  Pickering,  Jackson,  Thacher,  Mason,  and 
Dixwell. 

He  made  the  duties  and  history  of  his  office  the  subject  of 
elaborate  research.  He  read  to  the  bar,  and  published  in  the 
"  American  Jurist,"  July,  1829,  a  learned  exposition  of  the 
points  of  difference  between  the  office  in  England  and  in  Massa- 
chusetts, stating  clearly  its  duties  in  each  jurisdiction,  and  giving 
sketches  of  his  predecessors  in  office.  No  sheriff  in  this  country, 
probably,  has  ever  pursued  studies  of  this  kind  to  the  same 
extent. 

An  incident,  which  illustrates  his  professional  learning  and 
his  independence  of  character,  may  be  fitly  given  here. 

In  1829,  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  Commonwealth  held  that 
an  officer  serving  a  writ,  which  directs  him  to  attach  the  prop- 
erty of  the  defendant,  may  be  resisted,  as  a  trespasser,  by  another 
party,  whose  goods  he  undertakes  to  seize,  honestly  but  errone- 


Chap.  II.]  PARENTAGE.  — THE  FATHER.  23 

ously  supposing  them  to  be  the  defendant's. 1  The  decision 
imposed  on  executive  officers  a  serious  responsibility,  and  sub- 
jected them  to  personal  peril.  The  sheriff  regarded  it  as  contrary 
to  the  precedents  and  policy  of  the  law,  and  as  depriving  the 
officer  of  the  protection  to  which  he  is  entitled.  So  earnest 
were  his  convictions,  that  he  did  what  would  now  hardly  be 
thought  deferential  to  the  court.  Besides  communicating  the 
decision  to  the  sheriffs  of  other  counties,  with  strong  terms  of 
disapproval,  he  addressed  to  Chief  Justice  Parker  and  his  asso- 
ciates, before  the  printing  of  the  opinion,  an  elaborate  argument 
in  writing,  supported  by  a  review  of  the  English  authorities  and 
by  reasons  of  public  policy,  with  the  view  to  obtain  a  recon- 
sideration of  the  doctrine  as  held  by  the  court.  He  failed  to 
convince  the  judges ;  but  his  conclusion  is  in  accord  with  the 
later  authorities  in  other  States,  where  it  is  held  that  the  true 
owner,  whose  property  an  officer  in  good  faith  undertakes  to 
seize,  with  a  process  against  another,  cannot  lawfully  obstruct 
or  assault  the  officer,  but  must  resort  to  a  writ  of  replevin,  or 
other  civil  remedy.2 

Sheriff  Sumner  performed  his  duties  with  scrupulous  fidelity 
and  exactness.  His  fearlessness  was  remarked  on  the  occasion 
of  the  riot  in  Broad  Street,  June  11, 1837,  between  the  Irish  and 
an  engine  company,  when  under  the  statute  it  became  his  duty 
to  read  the  riot  act.  In  the  latter  part  of  his  life  the  perplexi- 
ties of  his  office  annoyed  him.  He  was  too  formal  and  punctili- 
ous, too  reserved,  and  too  little  pliant  to  the  ways  of  men.  to 
please  the  general  public.  His  last  appointment  drew  out  some 
opposition,  but  his  sterling  worth  overcame  it. 

He  participated  in  the  controversy  concerning  Masonry,  which 
was  carried  on  with  greater  or  less  zeal  during  the  decade  of 
1825-35.  He  co-operated  with  the  leading  opponents  of  the 
order  in  the  State,  —  John  Quincy  Adams,  Pliny  Merrick,  Ben- 
jamin F.  Hallett,  Henry  Gassett,  and  Amasa  Walker.  He  had 
been  himself  initiated,  about  1799,  when  quite  a  young  man,  and 
had  become  a  master-mason  in  1802.  A  year  later  he  was  the 
eulogist  of  the  order,  in  a  poem  and  an  address  before  the  Grand 
Lodge  of  the  State.  In  1806,  however,  he  discontinued  his  at- 
tendance on  its  meetings.    In  1829,  he  renounced  his  connection 

1  Commonwealth  v.  Kennard,  8  Pickering's  Reports,  p.  133. 

2  State  v.  Donner,  8  Vermont  Reports,  424;  State  v.  Buchanan,  17  id.  573  ;  State  v.  Fifield, 
18  New  Hampshire  Reports,  34 ;  Faris  v.  State,  3  Ohio  State  Reports,  159. 


24  MEMOIR  OF  CHARLES   SUMNER.  [Chap.  II. 

with  it.  The  same  year,  he  wrote  a  paper  on  "  Speculative  Free- 
Masonry,"  in  the  form  of  a  letter  to  gentlemen  who  had  solicited 
his  views.  It  was  published  as  a  pamphlet,  and  provoked  against 
him  much  hostility  and  many  newspaper  attacks.  The  memo- 
randum-books left  by  him  show  his  sustained  earnestness  in  the 
question.  One  of  them  was  appropriated  exclusively  to  his 
thoughts  upon  it  from  time  to  time.  He  attributed  to  his  con- 
nection with  this  controversy  some  unkind  treatment  which  he 
received. 

Sheriff  Sumner,  while  not  participating  publicly  in  the  aboli- 
tion movement,  was  always  an  antislavery  man.  His  forecast 
discerned  the  conflict  in  which  his  son  was  to  bear  his  great  part. 
Tradition  and  his  papers  give  abundant  evidence  of  his  opinions 
on  this  subject. 

About  1820,  in  a  conversation  relating  to  slavery,  he  said  to 
a  neighbor :  "  Our  children's  heads  will  some  day  be  broken  on 
a  cannon-ball  on  this  question."  At  another  time,  rebuking 
the  social  aversion  to  the  negro,  he  said  he  should  be  entirely 
willing  to  sit  on  the  bench  with  a  negro  judge  ;  and  when  com- 
plaint was  made  of  the  presence  in  the  schools  of  children  with 
colored  blood,  he  protested  that  there  was  no  objection  to  such 
association.  He  recorded  himself  against  the  law  which  prohib- 
ited the  intermarriage  of  the  two  races.  He  saluted  colored  per- 
sons on  the  street  with  his  customary  bow,  and  made  special 
efforts  in  behalf  of  prisoners  of  this  class,  to  enable  them  to  pro- 
cure the  witnesses  for  their  defence.  He  wrote  in  the  album  of 
the  daughter  of  his  friend,  Colonel  Josiah  H.  Vose,  Cowper's 
familiar  lines,  beginning  with,  — 

"  I  would  not  have  a  slave  to  till  my  ground." 

At  one  time  he  wrote :  "  The  South  will  say,  in  less  than  one 
hundred  years,  4Who  shall  deliver  us  from  the  body  of  this 
death  ? '  "  His  memorandum-books  contain  numerous  passages 
showing  his  sympathy  with  the  antislavery  movement.  At  one 
time  he  recorded  his  conviction  that  Congress  ought  to  abolish 
slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia.  He  denounced  the  pro- 
slavery  riots  which  took  place  in  Boston,  New  York,  Philadel- 
phia, and  Alton.  Indeed,  there  was  no  topic  on  which  he  was 
more  thoughtful  and  earnest. 

His  relation  to  an  attempted  reclamation  of  some  fugitive  slaves 
deserves  a  record.     On  July  30, 1836,  two  colored  women,  alleged 


Ohai*.  II.]  PARENTAGE.  —  THE   FATHER.  20 

to  be  slaves,  were  held  on  board  a  brig  in  Boston  Harbor,  by  one 
Turner,  the  agent  of  a  Maryland  slaveholder,  with  the  intent  to 
carry  them  to  that  State.  On  that  day,  a  writ  of  habeas  corpus 
was  granted,  at  the  instance  of  some  philanthropic  persons.  A 
deputy-sheriff  served  the  writ  on  the  master  of  the  vessel,  and 
took  the  women  into  custody.  They  were  brought  into  court, 
and  the  legality  of  their  detention  was  heard  on  August  1.  A 
large  number  of  people,  chiefly  colored,  were  in  attendance. 
Chief  Justice  Shaw,  after  hearing  the  affidavits,  remarked  that 
the  captain  had  not  sufficient  authority  to  detain  the  women.  At 
this  stage  of  the  proceedings,  before  any  formal  order  of  discharge 
had  been  given,  and  while  the  claimant  was  preparing  other  pa- 
pers in  order  to  obtain  a  new  process  for  their  detention,  the  coun- 
sel of  the  petitioners,  Samuel  E.  Sewall,  said  to  the  women  that 
they  were  discharged.  The  colored  people  present  at  once  made 
a  rush ;  and,  in  spite  of  the  officers,  carried  off  the  women,  who 
were  pursued  as  far  as  Framingham,  where  all  traces  of  them 
were  lost.  They  were  not  recovered.  The  Chief  Justice  was 
displeased  with  the  premature  announcement  of  the  discharge 
and  the  breach  of  decorum.  The  conduct  of  the  sheriff,  who 
was  not  present,  but  was  at  the  time  engaged  in  attendance  on 
the  Municipal  Court,  was  called  in  question  by  the  newspaper 
press  of  the  city,  then  much  in  sympathy  with  the  enforcement 
of  the  Fugitive  Act  of  1793.1  He  had  previously  offered  the 
deputy  in  charge  of  the  process  to  undertake  himself  the  duty ; 
but  the  offer  being  declined,  he  did  not  concern  himself  further 
with  the  matter,  and  went  to  the  Municipal  Court.  He  seems 
to  have  been  in  no  official  default,  even  on  the  theory  that  his 
duties  were  the  same  as  in  the  custody  of  a  party  accused  of 
crime.  He  was  charged  with  having,  out  of  sympathy  with  the 
alleged  slaves,  intentionally  neglected  to  provide  an  adequate 
force,  and  with  expressing  that  sympathy  to  Mr.  Sewall  in  the 
remark  that  he  wished  him  success  in  his  cause.  In  his  pub- 
lished letter  of  vindication,  he  thus  answers  this  last  accusation : 
"Whether  I  addressed  Mr.  Sewall,  as  it  is  said,  I  cannot  tell; 
but  I  should  be  ashamed  of  myself  if  I  did  not  wish  that  every 
person  claimed  as  a  slave  might  be  proved  to  be  a  freeman,  which 
is  the  purport  of  the  words  attributed  to  me."  The  sheriff,  in 
consequence  of  the  adverse  expressions  of  opinion  on  his  action, 

l  Evening  Transcript,  Aug.  3  and  13,  1836 ;  Evening  Gazette,  Aug.  6,  1836 ;  Morning 
Post,  Aug.  5,  1836;   Centinel  and  Gazette,  Aug.  15,  1836. 


26  MEMOIR  OF  CHARLES   SUMNER.  [Chap.  II. 

tendered  his  resignation  to  Governor  Everett,  who  declined  to 
accept  it. 

To  George  T.  Davis,  of  Greenfield,  then  editor  of  the  "  Frank- 
lin Mercury,"  he  wrote  a  note  of  thanks  for  an  article  in  that 
paper,  Aug.  9,  1836,  which  had  "  served  as  a  breakwater  to  turn 
aside  the  strong  tide  of  reproach,  which,  for  a  few  days,  had  been 
setting  against  him;  "  in  which  he  said, — 

"  It  seems  to  me  as  if  there  were  some  persons  in  Boston  who  would  have 
been  gratified  to  see  those  women  (after  being  liberated  from  one  unlawful 
detention)  seized  in  the  court-house,  in  the  presence  of  the  judge,  and  con- 
fined till  proof  could  be  sent  for  to  Baltimore,  and  from  thence  be  sent  to 
Boston,  to  make  them  slaves.  I  hope  the  walls  of  a  Massachusetts  court- 
house will  never  be  the  witnesses  of  such  a  spectacle.  What  would  the  late 
Judge  Sedgwick  have  said,  if  a  human  being  had  been  seized  in  his  presence, 
in  the  court-house,  while  he  was  on  the  bench,  for  the  purpose  of  having  him 
sentenced  and  certified  as  a  slave?  Though  dead,  he  yet  lives  and  speaks  in 
the  opinion  he  gave  in  the  case  of  Greenwood  v.  Curtis,  6  Mass.  Rep.  362- 
378  n." 

It  is  interesting  to  note,  in  Sheriff  Sumner's  correspondence, 
how  nearly  alike  were  the  questions  of  1833  and  those  of  1861, 
between  the  government  and  slavery.  His  relative,  Edwin  V. 
Sumner,  a  lieutenant  of  the  regular  army  in  1833,  and  a  major- 
general  of  volunteers  in  the  Civil  War,  wrote  to  him  from  Fort 
Niagara,  Jan.  11,  1833,  — 

"  What  think  you  of  the  nullifiers?  Our  affairs  begin  to  assume  a  very 
gloomy  appearance  in  that  quarter.  If  South  Carolina  stood  alone,  there 
would  be  less  cause  of  apprehension ;  but  is  there  not  every  reason  to  fear  that 
it  will  result  in  a  controversy  between  North  and  South?  We  are  ready  at  this 
post  to  move  instantly;  but  we  hope  and  trust  that  the  difficulty  will  be 
quietly  and  happily  adjusted  without  an  interruption." 

The  sheriff  replied,  under  date  of  Feb.  3,  regretting  that  he 
could  not  call  his  country  "a  nation,"  enforcing  the  need  of 
a  government  of  greater  strength  and  uniformity  of  pressure  and 
of  less  regard  for  State  lines,  and  expressing  his  fear  that,  "  in 
an  emergency,  its  authority  will  be  aided  but  little  by  the  militia 
south  of  the  Potomac ;  and  that  Virginia,  North  and  South  Caro- 
lina, Georgia,  Florida,  and  Alabama  will  sooner  or  later  unite 
and  bid  defiance  to  the  North."  He  added  :  "  In  the  oourse  of 
this  year,  1833,  I  trust  we  are  to  see  whether  we  are  a  nation 
or  a  confederacy."  He  had  before  this,  Jan.  20, 1830,  written  to 
Mr.  Webster,  acknowledging  the  receipt  of  a  copy  of  his  speech 


Chap.  II.]  PARENTAGE.  —  THE  FATHER.  27 

on  Foote's  resolution,  saying  that  "  the  debate  will  be  noticed  m 
the  history  of  our  Union ;  and  in  that  history  you  will  appear  as 
a  man  fulfilling  the  duty  of  your  station,  faithful  to  your  country 
and  to  your  own  character." 

Sheriff  Sumner  was  in  favor  of  a  strong  government  both  for 
the  nation  and  the  State.  He  was  greatly  disturbed  by  the  mobs 
which  were  frequent  in  American  cities  from  1834  to  1838,  and 
which  usually  grew  out  of  Slavery,  religious  antipathies,  or 
criminal  trials ;  and  he  insisted  often  on  a  more  vigorous  police. 

As  early  as  1830,  he  took  an  active  interest  in  the  temperance 
question ; x  and,  in  the  years  immediately  succeeding,  delivered 
lectures,  in  which  he  enforced  the  duty  of  sobriety.2  He  favored 
the  restrictive  legislation  of  1837-38,  and  insisted  on  the  immor- 
ality of  licensing  the  sale  of  ardent  spirits. 

He  promoted  the  improvement  of  public  schools.  In  1818, 
when  there  were  only  five  such  schools  in  Boston,  and  these  were 
crowded,  he  published  several  newspaper  articles,  in  which  he 
urged  additional  schools  and  an  increase  in  the  number  of  teach- 
ers for  each.3 

Sheriff  Sumner  attended,  in  his  early  manhood,  the  services 
of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church,  at  Trinity  Church,  of  which 
Rev.  Dr.  Gardiner  was  the  rector.  He  was  at  one  time  the 
clerk ;  and,  after  the  English  style,  had  an  elevated  seat  near 
the  chancel,  from  which  he  made  responses.  About  1825,  he 
began  to  attend  at  King's  Chapel  (Unitarian),  of  which  Rev. 
F.  W.  P.  Greenwood  was  the  pastor.  Here  the  family  retained 
their  pew  till  the  death  of  his  widow,  in  1866.  His  religious 
belief  was  quite  indefinite.  He  was  indulgent  to  all  shades  of 
doctrine.  He  welcomed  the  Catholics  when  there  were  few  in 
Boston.  Once  he  discontinued  a  newspaper,  on  account  of  its 
attacks  upon  them.  His  feelings  were  strongly  excited  by  the 
destruction  of  the  Ursuline  Convent  at  Charlestown  by  a  mob,  in 
August,  1834 ;  and  he  sent  thirty  dollars,  the  amount  he  had 
received  for  a  special  official  service,  to  Bishop  Fenwick,  to  be 
used  in  aid  of  the  sufferers.  While  disinclined  to  attend  public 
dinners,  he  accepted  an  invitation  to  attend  one  given  by  the 
Irish  Charitable  Society,  in  1830,  at  the  Exchange  Coffee-House, 
on  St.  Patrick's  Day.    When  called  on  to  respond  to  a  sentiment, 

1  Article  on  exclusion  of  bars  from  theatres,  in  "  Commercial  Gazette,"  Nov.  8,  1830. 

2  At  Holliston,  May  4,  1831 ;  Boston,  June  2,  1833. 

«  Boston  Yankee,  May  15,  June  11  and  18,  July  2,  9,  and  23. 


28  MEMOIR  OF  CHARLES   SUMNER.  lChap.  1L 

he  paid  a  tribute  to  Lord  Baltimore,  the  founder  of  Maryland. 
His  reply  is  a  specimen  of  his  efforts  on  such  occasions :  — 

' '  There  is  a  name  that  was  of  great  note  between  one  and  two  hundred 
years  ago,  which  does  not  seem  to  be  remembered  in  this  part  of  our  country 
with  sufficient  respect.  I  mean  the  name  of  Calvert,  Lord  Baltimore,  the 
founder  of  Maryland.  He  was  a  worthy  son  of  Ireland,  and  an  ornament  of 
the  age  in  which  he  lived.  He  was  a  Catholic  and  a  statesman.  As  gov- 
ernor of  Maryland,  he  received  with  open  arms  all  who  came  to  him  suffer- 
ing from  the  hand  of  religious  intolerance.  He  studied  the  things  that  made 
for  peace,  and  used  his  authority  to  inspire  his  followers  with  the  love  of  it, 
always  acting  upon  that  maxim  of  political  wisdom,  — '  By  agreement  a  colony 
may  rise  to  greatness;  while  by  dissension  an  empire  must  come  to  nothing.' 
Sir,  I  offer  a  sentiment  dear  to  my  heart,  —  Respect  to  the  name  of  Calvert." 

He  observed  with  scrupulous  exactness  the  rules  of  good  breed- 
ing, and  taught  them  to  his  children.  His  thought  on  this  sub- 
ject was  embodied  in  a  sentiment  which  he  gave,  in  August, 
1827,  at  the  customary  public-school  festival,  in  Faneuil  Hall,  — 
"  Good  learning  and  good  manners ;  two  good  companions. 
Happy  when  they  meet,  they  ought  never  to  part." 

Sheriff  Sumner  was  a  scholarly  man  for  his  time.  He  read 
history  like  a  student,  using  charts  and  writing  out  in  memoran- 
dum-books tables  of  events  in  English  and  American  history. 
He  had  a  fancy  for  collating  those  which  had  occurred  in  dif- 
ferent periods  on  the  same  day.  He  also  noted  down  current 
events  in  war  and  diplomacy,  and  applied  to  them  historical  pre- 
cedents. He  transcribed  choice  extracts  from  English  and  Latin 
authors.  His  diligence  in  these  respects  was  remarkable.  His 
public  addresses  and  newspaper  articles,  and  also  his  letters  to 
friends  and  his  conversation  —  though  in  no  respect  brilliant 
or  epigrammatic  —  were  carefully  worded,  every  sentence  well 
weighed  and  spoken,  or  written  out  in  his  fair,  clerkly  hand.  He 
took  pains  to  lead  his  son  Charles  and  his  other  children  to  the 
studies  which  he  had  himself  pursued,  teaching  them,  as  their 
minds  developed,  to  love  history  and  all  knowledge.  Other  homes 
enjoyed  more  of  luxury  ;  but  his  was  enriched  at  least  with  the 
atmosphere  of  culture. 

He  was  rigidly  conscientious  in  his  dealings  with  his  fellow- 
men.  His  fidelity  to  trust,  even  in  the  smallest  items,  was  never 
doubted.  It  was  easy  for  him  to  procure,  among  his  neighbors, 
the  best  sureties  on  his  official  bond,  although  his  known  in- 
tegrity, rather  than  his  acquired  property,  was  the  guarantee  of 


Chap.  II.]  PARENTAGE.  — THE  FATHER.  29 

his  trustworthiness.  He  was  genuine  in  character,  and  would 
not  consent  to  receive  any  undeserved  consideration.  In  early- 
life  he  declined  invitations,  the  acceptance  of  which  might  imply 
a  claim  to  a  social  position  higher  than  he  held,  and  even  went 
out  of  his  way  by  quaint  methods  to  prevent  any  impression  that 
his  household  life  was  more  luxurious  than  it  really  was.  His 
conviction  that  equal  justice  was  due  to  all,  without  favor  to 
any,  was  strong;  and  wdien  a  near  relative,  for  whom  he  had 
the  tenderest  regard,  had  violated  the  law,  and  he  was  desired 
to  intervene  in  his  behalf,  he  answered,  with  Roman  firmness, 
"  The  law  must  take  its  course."  He  applied  the  same  high 
standard  to  corporate  and  public  affairs  as  to  private  life.  In 
October,  1837,  during  the  suspension  of  specie  payments,  he 
moved,  as  a  stockholder  of  the  State  Bank,  that  no  dividends  be 
paid  till  its  bills  were  redeemable  in  specie.  The  motion  was  lost, 
but  he  recorded  his  determination  to  renew  it  the  next  year. 

Sheriff:  Sumner's  health  was  feeble  in  his  later  years.  He 
became  quite  ill  early  in  January,  1839,  and  after  that  month 
was  confined  to  his  house.  He  resigned  his  office,  March  14. 
Governor  Everett  delayed  action,  hoping  for  his  recovery ;  but 
relieved  him,  April  11,  by  the  appointment  of  Joseph  Eveleth 
as  his  successor.  The  judges  of  the  Supreme  Judicial  Court, 
by  a  formal  letter,  drawn  by  Chief  Justice  Shaw,  gratefully 
recognized  his  uniform  kindness  and  attention  during  his  ad- 
ministration. He  died,  April  24,  at  the  age  of  sixty-three,  the 
period  which  he  had  often  designated  as  his  probable  end.  In 
length  of  life,  he  and  his  son  Charles  differed  less  than  one 
month. 

His  will,  signed  a  few  days  before  his  death,  after  gifts  to 
some  of  his  children,  to  equalize  advances  to  others,  bequeathed 
a  life-estate  in  his  house,  on  Hancock  Street,  to  his  wife,  and  the 
fee  equally  to  his  children ;  and  the  residue  of  his  property  to 
her,  for  her  own  disposal,  adding  these  words :  — 

"  I  have  made  the  foregoing  devises  and  bequests  to  my  wife, 
confiding  in  her  disposition  to  carry  into  effect  my  wishes,  and 
in  her  affection  for  our  children,  and  that  she  will,  from  time  to 
time,  and  finally  by  her  last  will,  make  such  disposition  of  the 
property  given  her  as  justice  and  the  condition  of  the  children 
shall  require."  This  trust  was  faithfully  administered,  and  the 
estate  more  than  doubled  in  value  during  the  period  which  inter- 
vened between  his  death  and  hers. 


BO  MEMOIR  OF  CHARLES   SUMNER.  [Chap.  II. 

Sheriff  Sumner  was  very  formal  in  his  manners  and  punc- 
tilious in  etiquette,  not  only  in  public,  but  in  his  family.  In 
salutations  he  was  somewhat  excessive,  bowing  low,  touching 
his  mouth  with  his  hand,  and  waving  it  back  to  his  side.  He 
was  reserved  to  a  marked  degree,  and  was  rarely  seen  in  public 
to  smile,  at  least  in  his  later  years.  He  had  during  his  life, 
but  more  towards  its  close,  a  grave  and  sombre  tone  of  mind. 
His  rigid  and  cheerless  nature  was  not  one  which  makes  a 
happy  home.  He  was  loyal  to  ancient  friends,  and  grateful  to 
those  who  had  in  any  way  befriended  him ;  but  he  did  not 
mingle  easily  with  men  to  whom  he  was  not  allied  by  any  tie 
of  kin  or  early  association.  From  natural  kindness,  and  not 
from  a  desire  to  win  favor,  he  was  accustomed,  in  letters  and 
personal  greetings,  to  say  pleasant  things,  in  the  way  of  compli- 
ment, to  those  whom  he  respected.  His  conscientiousness,  —  his 
fixedness  of  purpose  in  doing  his  duty,  as  he  understood  it,  no 
matter  what  others  might  say  or  think,  —  was  the  prominent 
trait  of  his  character.  With  this  was  associated  love  of  learn- 
ing, of  social  order,  and  of  good  morals.  If  he  was  wanting  in 
the  lighter  moods,  he  had  the  sterling  qualities  which  children 
respect  and  imitate.  If  he  was  not  himself  great,  he  had  in 
him  elements  of  character  which  are  essential  to  greatness. 

In  person  he  was  of  average  height,  five  feet  and  eight  or  nine 
inches.  He  was  slender  in  form,  and  not  well  favored  in  coun- 
tenance.    No  portrait  of  him  is  preserved.1 


THE    MOTHER. 

Mrs.  Sumner  was  a  woman  of  excellent  sense,  and  of  unusual 
skill  in  domestic  economies.  By  her  own  toil,  and  the  prudent 
management  of  the  household,  she  succeeded,  even  before  her 
husband  became  sheriff,  in  keeping  the  family  expenses  within 
his  income.  In  the  care  of  the  estate  and  the  nurture  of  the 
children,  after  his  decease,  she  justified  the  confidence  which  his 
will  placed  in  her.  She  was  equable,  even  imperturbable,  in  her 
temperament.  She  survived  her  husband  twenty-seven  years,  and 
all  her  children,  save  Charles  and  Julia.  She  was  the  constant 
nurse,  night  as  well  as  day,  of  three  daughters,  during  wasting 

l  The  papers  left  by  Sheriff  Sumner  are  the  chief  sources  of  this  sketch.  Information 
has  been  sought  from  those  who  knew  him,  and  "  The  Hundred  Boston  Orators,"  by  James 
S.  Loring,  has  been  consulted. 


Chap.  II.]  PARENTAGE.  —  THE  MOTHER.  21 

disease  which  ended  in  death,  and  of  her  son  Charles,  during  a 
severe  illness  in  1844.  Her  early  education  was  that  of  the 
common-school  only.  She  found  little  time  for  liberal  studies 
during  the  season  when  maternal  cares  pressed  heavily  upon  her, 
although  encouraging  them  in  her  children ;  but  her  good  sense 
and  native  understanding  always  insured  her  the  respect  of  the 
best  people. 

One  will  observe  the  larger  space  which  is  almost  always 
given  to  the  father  of  any  subject  of  biography.  The  life  of 
the  man  is  various,  illustrated  by  adventure  and  incident ;  while 
the  life  of  the  woman  is  in  her  home,  monotonous  and  undis- 
tinguished. She  may  have  had,  by  force  of  her  innate  qualities 
or  her  nurture,  an  equal  or  greater  share  in  the  character  and 
fortunes  of  her  child,  but  the  story  of  her  life  will  be  briefly 
told :  — 

"  Her  lot  to  bear,  to  nurse,  to  rear, 
To  love,  —  and  then  to  lose." 

In  person,  Mrs.  Sumner  was  tall  and  slender.  She  enjoyed 
health  and  cheerful  spirits  during  her  prolonged  life.  She  died, 
June  15,  1866,  at  the  age  of  eighty-one. 


BROTHERS   AND   SISTERS. 

Sheriff  Sumner  had  nine  children.  Of  these,  Charles  and 
Matilda,  twin  brother  and  sister,  were  the  eldest.  Matilda  died, 
March  6,  1832,  of  consumption,  after  a  year's  sickness,  at  the  age 
of  twenty-one. 

Albert  was  born,  Aug.  31,  1812;  passed  through  a  regular 
course  in  the  public  schools,  and  served  some  time  in  a  counting- 
room.  He  sailed,  at  the  age  of  seventeen,  from  New  Bedford 
for  the  Pacific,  on  a  whaling  voyage,  which  lasted  three  years ; 
and  afterwards,  as  mate  or  captain  in  different  ships,  for  South 
America  and  Europe.  He  retired  from  maritime  service  on  his 
marriage,  in  1840,  to  the  widow  of  Thomas  Barclay,  of  New 
York,  and  from  that  time  resided  in  New  York  and  Newport. 
He  had  a  fine  presence,  cultivated  the  habits  and  tastes  of  a  gen- 
tleman, and  gave  a  generous  welcome  to  friends  at  his  fireside 
and  table.  He  met  an  untimely  fate  in  1856.  With  his  wife 
and  their  only  daughter,  Catharine,  a  girl  of  fourteen  years, 
for  whose  health   the  journey  was  planned,  he  sailed,  Nov.  1, 


32  MEMOIR   OF  CHARLES   SUMNER.  [Chap.  II. 

from  New  York  for  Havre,  in  the  French  steamer  "  Lyonnais." 
On  the  following  day,  near  midnight,  she  was  disabled  by 
a  collision  with  the  bark  "  Adriatic,"  of  Belfast,  Me.,  bound 
for  Savannah,  when  some  sixty  miles  oif  the  Nantucket  light. 
The  day  after  the  collision,  the  passengers  and  crew  left  the  ship, 
in  the  midst  of  a  storm,  for  the  boats  and  a  raft.  Of  the  one 
hundred  and  fifty  persons  on  board,  eighteen  only  were  saved, 
two  of  whom  floating  on  a  raft  and  sixteen  in  a  life-boat  were 
picked  up  a  week  after.  Captain  Sumner  and  his  family  had 
entered  another  boat,  which  was  seen  the  day  after  and  then 
disappeared  in  a  fog. 

It  appears  to  have  been  established  that  the  mother  and  child 
died  first,  and  that  the  father  inherited  their  property.  Mrs. 
Sumner's  estate  thus  descended  to  the  heirs  of  her  husband,  — 
his  mother  and  surviving  brothers,  Charles  and  George,  and  his 
sister  Julia.  The  Sumners  surrendered  voluntarily,  and  without 
the  assertion  of  an  adverse  claim,  to  the  heirs  of  Albert's  wife 
all  her  property  ;  and  the  Barclays  certified  in  a  formal  letter 
to  George  Sumner,  the  administrator  of  Albert,  that  "  the  Bar- 
clays had  no  legal  claim  to  the  property,  and  this  fact  was  known 
both  to  yourself  and  to  the  other  heirs-at-law.  Such  conduct 
merits  the  esteem  and  approbation  of  every  honorable  man." 

Henry  was  born,  Nov.  22,  1814,  and  died  in  South  Orange, 
N.  J.,  May  5,  1852.  He  received  a  mercantile  education,  trav- 
elled in  the  Southern  States,  and  visited  the  West  Indies  and 
South  America.  In  1838,  he  held  for  a  few  months  the  office 
of  deputy-sheriff,  by  his  father's  appointment. 

George  was  born,  Feb.  5,  1817,  and  died,  Oct.  6,  1863.  He 
toras  trained  in  the  public  schools  and  a  counting-house.  He  de- 
veloped in  his  youth  the  spirit  of  adventure ;  and,  at  the  age  of 
twenty-one,  sailed  as  the  supercargo  of  a  ship  for  Russia,  where 
he  received  many  civilities  from  the  Czar  Nicholas  and  his 
court.  From  this  time  until  1852,  he  travelled,  without  the 
interval  of  any  visit  to  his  country,  in  the  East  and  in  Europe ; 
studying  languages,  politics,  and  institutions,  observing  with  rare 
diligence  contemporary  events,  and  profiting  by  a  large  acquaint- 
ance with  scholars  and  public  men.  He  made  Paris  his  home, 
and  knew  French  affairs  well,  —  better,  probably,  than  most 
Frenchmen.  He  was  commended  both  by  Tocqueville  and  Alex- 
ander von  Humboldt  for  his  intelligence  and  researches.  During 
his  residence  abroad,  he  contributed  to  foreign  reviews,  and  also 


Chap.  II.]  BROTHERS   AND    SISTERS.  38 

to  American  periodicals  and  newspapers.  His  themes  concerned 
history,  philanthropy,  and  the  existing  state  of  nations,  including 
affairs  in  the  East.  After  his  return  to  this  country,  he  was,  for 
some  years,  an  acceptable  lecturer  before  lyceums  in  the  West- 
ern as  well  as  Eastern  States.  On  July  4, 1859,  he  delivered  the 
oration  before  the  municipal  authorities  of  Boston,  taking  for  his 
topic  the  obligations  of  the  people  of  the  United  States  to  other 
nations  and  to  themselves.  Some  of  his  friends  and  relatives, 
and  particularly  his  brother  Charles,  regretted  that  he  tarried  so 
long  in  Europe,  and  desired  him  rather  to  concentrate  his  mind 
on  some  definite  literary  work  or  occupation.1 

Jane  was  born,  April  28, 1820,  and  died,  Oct.  7, 1837.  She  did 
not  recover  from  a  typhoid  fever,  which  seized  her  two  years 
before  her  death,  and  afterwards  was  afflicted  with  a  spinal  dis- 
ease. Her  delicate  conscientiousness  and  religious  thoughtfulness 
appear  in  a  paper,  written  at  the  age  of  sixteen,  in  which  she 
recorded  a  severe  self-examination.  Her  father  wrote  of  her : 
"  She  was  tall,  well  proportioned  and  graceful,  intelligent  and 
discreet.  Her  light  was  clear  and  cheering.  She  was  never 
impatient  or  irritated  She  was  well  informed  for  one  of  her 
years.  She  understood  English  well,  and  had  some  knowledge 
of  Latin  and  French.  She  was  tolerably  proficient  in  music, 
and  could  sing  and  play  well.  She  could  dance  well,  and  walk 
with  strength,  agility,  and  grace.  But  whatever  were  her  ac- 
complishments, goodness  was  her  chief  characteristic ;  and  this, 
at  all  times,  beamed  forth  from  her  clear,  dark-colored,  benig- 
nant eyes." 

Mary  was  born,  April  28, 1822,  and  died,  Oct.  11,  1844.  She 
was  a  lovely  character,  and  in  person  the  fairest  among  the 
daughters.  Her  disease  was  pulmonary.  She  was  the  darling 
sister  of  her  brother  Charles,  whose  grief  at  her  wasting  sickness 
and  death  later  pages  will  record. 

Horace  was  born,  Dec.  25,  1824,  and  was  lost,  July  19,  1850, 
in  the  wreck  of  the  ship  "  Elizabeth,"  on  Fire  Island,  near  New 
York.  At  two  in  the  afternoon  he  left  the  ship  to  swim  ashore, 
and  was  not  seen  again.  The  Marchioness  Ossoli,  nee  Margaret 
Fuller,  perished  in  the  same  disaster.  Horace,  for  some  time  an 
invalid,  was  returning  from  a  voyage  to  Italy,  which  had  been 
undertaken  for  his  health.     He  was  a  gentle,  unaspiring  youth, 

1  A  sketch  of  George  Sumner  may  be  found  in  Allibone's  "  Dictionary  of  English  Liter- 
ature." 

VOL.    I.  3 


M  MEMOIR  OF   CHARLES   SUMNER.  [Chap.  II. 

not  marked  by  any  strong  qualities,  and  with  less  intellectual 
vigor  than  the  other  children.  He  was  placed  on  a  farm  for 
his  health,  and  was  at  one  time  with  the  Brook-Farm  Com- 
munity, a  well-known  fraternity  of  social  reformers.  It  was 
remarkable  that  two  brothers,  not  at  the  time  sea-faring  men, 
should  end  their  lives  in  different  shipwrecks.1 

Julia  was  born,  May  5, 1827,  and  died,  May  29, 1876 ;  the  last 
survivor  of  the  nine  children,  and  the  only  one  who  outlived 
Charles.  She  married,  in  1854,  Dr.  John  Hastings,  of  San 
Francisco.  Her  children,  Alice,  Edith,  and  Julia,  are  the  only 
living  issue  of  Charles  Pinckney  Sumner.  She  was  an  invalid 
for  many  years.  She  was  beloved  for  her  sweetness  of  nature  and 
her  true  womanliness.  Her  last  visit  to  the  Atlantic  States  was  in 
1862,  and  her  ill-health  did  not  permit  her  to  make  a  later  one. 
She  visited  Washington  at  that  time.  Charles  accompanied  her 
to  New  York,  and  parted  with  her  at  the  steamer,  as  she  sailed 
on  her  return.  "  I  shall  never  forget,"  she  afterwards  wrote, 
"  his  tender  care  at  that  time.  My  last  sight  of  him  was  stand- 
ing on  the  wharf  as  the  steamer  moved  off." 

1  For  a  detailed  account  of  the  shipwreck,  see  "Memoir  of  Margaret  Fuller  Ossoli,"  bv 
R.  W.  Emerson,  W.  H.  Channing,  and  J.  F.  Clarke,  Vol.  II.  pp.  341-351. 


iEr.  1-15.]  BIRTH  AND  EARLY  EDUCATION.  36 


CHAPTER  III. 

BIRTH  AND  EARLY  EDUCATION.  — 1811-26. 

CHARLES  and  Matilda,  the  eldest  and  twin  children  of 
Charles  Pinckney  and  Relief  Sumner,  were  born  in  Boston, 
Jan.  6,  1811.  Their  birthplace  was  the  frame-house  on  the\ 
south-east  corner  of  Revere  (then  May)  and  Irving  (then  But- 
tolph)  Streets,  the  site  of  which  is  now  occupied  by  the  rear  part 
of  the  Bowdoin  Schoolhouse.  The  neighbors,  who  took  a  kindly'* 
interest  in  the  event,  remember  that  they  weighed,  at  the  time 
of  birth,  only  three  and  a  half  pounds  each,  and  were  not  dressed 
for  some  days.  At  first,  the  tiny  babes  gave  little  promise  o^ 
living  many  hours  ;  but,  surviving  the  first  struggle  for  existence, 
they  soon  began  to  thrive.  The  boy  was  retained  by  his  mother, 
and  the  girl  was  provided  with  another  nurse.  The  parents  re- 
joiced in  their  first-born.  To  the  father,  whose  heart  was  full  of 
gladness,  it  seemed  as  if  the  whole  town  knew  his  good  fortune 
as  soon  as  he  knew  it  himself.  Indeed,  children,  as  they  came 
one  after  the  other,  were  always  welcomed  in  that  household. 

Charles  was  first  taught  in  a  private  infant  school,  kept  by  his\ 
maternal  aunt,  Miss  Hannah  R.  Jacob,  in  the  upper  room  of  his 
father's  house.  Perry's  and  Webster's  Spelling  Books  and  the 
"  Child's  Assistant ' '  were  then  the  primary  school-books.  It  is  not 
likely  that  he  remained  at  his  aunt's  school  when  he  was  older 
than  six  or  seven.  For  some  time  before  his  admission  to  the 
Latin  School  he  attended  the  West  Writing-School,  afterwards 
known  as  the  May  hew  School,  which  was  kept  in  a  building  now 
used  as  a  stable,  at  the  corner  of  Hawkins  and  Chardon  streets. 
Not  only  writing  but  the  other  common  English  branches  were 
taught  in  the  school.  Benjamin  Holt,  who  lived  to  an  advanced 
age,  was  the  master  in  the  writing  department,  and  Hall  J.  Kelley 
in  the  reading.  James  Robinson,  of  Cambridge,  who  died  in  1877, 
was  an  usher.  Charles  is  remembered  by  persons  still  living  as 
large  for  his  age,  amiable  and  quiet,  and  maturer  than  most  of 
the  other  scholars.     The  boys  liked  him,  and  even  those  older 


36  MEMOIR  OF  CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1811-26. 

than  himself  looked  up  to  him.  He  was  taught  writing  before 
entering  the  Latin  School,  by  a  well-known  master  of  the  art, 
Elmer  Valentine,  whose  rooms  were  at  3  Cornhill  Square,  now 
known  as  Joy's  Building.  From  him,  Feb.  17, 1821,  he  received 
a  merit-card,  handsomely  executed  in  pen-and-ink. 

The  father,  deeming  it  necessary  to  prepare  his  son  as  soon 
as  might  be  to  earn  his  livelihood  and  assist  in  the  support  of 
the  family,  intended  to  have  him  taught  in  the  English  branches 
only,  and  not  in  Latin  and  Greek.  The  boy,  however,  with  a 
kind  of  instinct  for  classical  culture,  bought,  with  some  coppers 
he  had  saved,  a  Latin  Grammar  and  "  Liber  Primus  "  of  an  older 
boy,  who  had  no  further  use  for  them.  He  studied  them  privately 
out  of  school,  and  one  morning  surprised  his  father  by  appearing 
with  the  books,  and  showing  his  ability  to  recite  from  them.  His 
father,  impressed  perhaps  by  this  incident,  decided  to  put  him  in 
the  classical  course  provided  by  the  public  schools.1 

Charles,  having  passed  the  required  examination,  was  admit- 
ted with  his  next  younger  brother,  Albert,  as  a  member  of  the 
Boston  Latin  School,  near  the  close  of  August,  1821.  This 
public  school,  and  the  private  academies  at  Exeter,  N.  H.,  and 
Andover,  Mass.,  have  for  a  long  time  maintained  a  high  repute 
both  as  to  quality  of  instruction  and  lists  of  pupils  eminent  in 
all  professions.2  The  Latin  School  was,  from  1821-26,  under 
the  charge  of  Benjamin  A.  Gould  as  head-master,  and  Jonathan 
Greely  Stevenson  and  Frederick  P.  Leverett,  his  assistants.  Jo- 
seph Palmer,  the  necrologist  of  Harvard  College,  and  for  many 
years  connected  with  the  "  Boston  Advertiser,"  was  an  usher. 
Mr.  Leverett,  the  author  of  an  excellent  Latin  Lexicon,  was  the 
teacher  whose  thorough  drill  added  much  to  the  character  of 
the  school  at  that  time.  Charles  continued  his  attendance  at 
Mr.  Valentine's  writing  school  until  December  of  the  next 
year.3 

The  course  at  the  Latin  School  was  then  one  of  five  years,  and 
the  school  was  divided  into  five  classes,  according  to  the  years  of 
study.     Each  class  was  distributed  into  three  divisions,  gener- 

1  Mr.  Sumner,  in  September,  1854,  related  this  incident  in  presence  of  some  friends,  one 
of  whom  was  Richard  H.  Dana,  Jr. 

2  The  centennial  anniversary  of  the  re-opening  of  the  Latin  School,  after  the  evacuation 
of  Boston  by  the  British,  was  celebrated  by  a  reunion,  Nov.  8,  1876. 

8  His  father  recorded  in  his  almanac,  Sept.  17,  1821,  "  Charles  and  Albert  began  at  Mr. 
Valentine's  again,  from  11  to  1;  "  on  July  3,  1822,  "Exhibition  at  Mr.  Valentine's;"  and, 
on  Dec.  17,  1822,  "  Paid  Mr.  Elmer  Valentine,  and  withdrew  Charles  and  Albert." 


JET.--15.J  AT  THE  LATIN   SCHOOL.  37 

ally  with  some  reference  to  proficiency  in  the  appointed  studies. 
Charles  and  his  brother  and  their  kinsman,  William  H.  Simmons, 
belonged  to  the  third  or  lowest  division.  The  class  had  forty- 
five  members  the  first  year;  but  three  years  later  it  had  only 
twenty-nine.  While  he  was  in  the  school,  there  were  in  older 
classes  Robert  C.  Winthrop,  George  S.  Hillard,  George  T.  Bige- 
low,  James  Freeman  Clarke,  and  Samuel  F.  Smith ;  and  in  the 
succeeding  one,  Wendell  Phillips. 

The  curriculum  at  the  Latin  School  comprehended  more  than 
was  then  or  is  now  required  for  admission  to  Harvard  College. 
It  included,  in  Latin,  Adam's  "  Latin  Grammar,"  "  Liber  Pri- 
mus," "Epitome  Historic  Graecse "  (Siretz),  "Viri  Romse," 
"  Phsedri  Fabulse,"  "  Cornelius  Nepos,"  Ovid's  "  Metamorphoses," 
Sallust's  "  Catiline "  and  "  Jugurthine  War,"  Csesar,  Virgil, 
Cicero's  "  Select  Orations,"  the  "  Agricola  "  and  "  Germania  "  of 
Tacitus,  and  the  "  Odes  "  and  "  Epodes  "  of  Horace.  In  Greek, 
it  included  Valpy's  "  Greek  Grammar,"  the  "  Delectus  Sententia- 
rum  Graecarum,"  Jacob's  "  Greek  Reader,"  the  "  Four  Gospels," 
and  two  books  of  Homer's  "  Iliad."  Tooke's  "  Pantheon  of  the 
Heathen  Gods  "  introduced  the  pupil  to  mythology.  In  arith- 
metic, Lacroix  was  used;  and  in  reading,  Lindley  Murray's 
"English  Reader."1 

In  1824,  Charles  won  a  third  prize  for  a  translation  from 
Ovid,  and  a  second  prize  for  a  translation  from  Sallust ;  and,  in 
1826,  second  prizes  for  a  Latin  hexameter  poem  and  an  English 
theme.  He  received,  for  the  two  prizes  last  named,  an  English 
edition  of  Gibbon's  History  in  twelve  volumes.  A  detur,  awarded 
to  him,  Feb.  1,  1823,  probably  as  a  recognition  of  good  conduct 
and  attention  to  studies,  is  preserved,  running  thus  :  — 

"  Schol^e  Latinos  in  Aula. 

Detur  Carolo  Sumner. 

Juveni  ingenuo  atque  laude  digniori. 

Qui  cupit 2  optatam  cursu  contingere  metam, 
Multa  tulit  fecitque  puer." 

Some  of  his  attempts  at  Latin  poetry,  at  this  time,  are  pre- 
served,—  two  hexameters,  one  of  June   26,  1825,  Ad  Inferos 

1  On  the  fly-leaf  of  many  of  his  text-books  which  he  used  in  the  Latin  School  and  in 
College  he  wrote  the  motto,  "  Me  jure  tenet." 

2  Qui  studet,  &c,  Ars  Poet.  412. 


88  MEMOIR  OF  CHARLES  SUMNER.         [1811-26. 

Orpheos  descensus,  and  the  other  of  January,  1826,  Hectoris  mors^ 
and  an  ode  of  June  15,  1826,  Ad  ver,  in  eight  verses. 

While  at  the  Latin  School,  he  did  not  distance  the  greater 
number  of  the  pupils  in  the  prescribed  course ;  but  his  general 
knowledge  and  occasional  efforts  in  composition,  as  well  as  fair 
standing  in  recitations,  insured  him  a  respectable  rank  as  a 
scholar.  He  gave  no  promise  of  a  remarkable  career ;  and  yet 
both  teachers  and  pupils  respected  his  qualities  of  mind  and  his 
disposition. 

The  exhibition,  or  annual  visitation,  of  the  Latin  and  other 
schools  at  the  close  of  the  five-years'  course,  in  1826,  took  place 
Wednesday,  Aug.  23.  The  occasion,  at  the  Latin  School,  was 
graced  by  distinguished  guests,  —  John  Quincy  Adams,  then 
President  of  the  United  States,  Nicholas  Biddle,  the  President 
of  the  Bank  of  the  United  States,  Leverett  Saltonstall,  of  Salem, 
and  Admiral  Sir  Isaac  Coffin,  a  native  of  Boston  and  an  officer 
in  the  British  navy.  The  sixth  part  —  not  a  prominent  one  — 
was  "  A  Discussion  on  the  Comparative  Merits  of  the  Present 
Age  and  the  Age  of  Chivalry.  —  C.  Sumner  and  H.  W. 
Sargent." 

Six  scholars,  of  whom  Charles  was  one,  each  received  a 
Franklin  medal.  His  is  still  preserved,  with  the  same  blue 
ribbon  which  was  then  attached  to  it.  In  the  afternoon,  there 
was  the  customary  dinner  at  Faneuil  Hall,  attended  by  the 
mayor,  Josiah  Quincy,  the  distinguished  guests,  the  school-com- 
mittee, and  other  municipal  officers.  The  scholars  who  had  been 
on  that  day  decorated  with  the  medals  also  attended.  President 
Adams,  who  had  since  his  father's  recent  death  abstained  from 
participation  in  festivities,  made  the  occasion  an  exception.  He 
was  present  at  the  dinner,  and  spoke  with  his  usual  energy  and 
aptness.  After  a  tribute  to  the  worthies  of  Massachusetts  in 
other  days,  and  a  reference  to  the  recent  commemoration  of  the 
lives  of  Adams  and  Jefferson,  he  closed  his  inspiring  speech 
with  the  sentiment,  "  The  blooming  youth  !  May  the  maturity 
of  the  fruit  equal  the  promise  of  the  blossom  !  "  His  wish  was 
to  be  fulfilled  in  at  least  one  of  the  scholars  who  heard  him. 

On  August  2,  three  weeks  before  these  festivities,  Daniel  Web- 
ster delivered,  at  Faneuil  Hall,  his  oration  on  Adams  and  Jeffer- 
son. Early  in  the  morning  of  that  day,  the  young  men  of  Boston, 
having  formed  in  procession  at  the  State  House,  went  to  the  First 
Church  in   Chauncy  Place,  where,  with  solemn  services,  they 


Mt.  1-15.]  AT  THE  LATIN   SCHOOL.  39 

commemorated  the  deceased  ex-Presidents.  The  scholars  of  the 
Latin  School  were  assigned  a  place  in  the  procession.  At  a  later 
hour,  Faneuil  Hall  was  not  large  enough  to  contain  the  mul- 
titude which  pressed  for  admission.  Charles  at  length  forced 
his  way  in,  just  in  time  to  hear  the  imagined  speech  of  John 
Adams  in  favor  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  which, 
according  to  the  newspapers  of  the  day,  was  the  most  impres- 
sive passage  of  the  oration.  Never  has  a  youth,  when  passing 
from  one  interesting  period  of  study  to  another,  had  a  more 
precious  opportunity  than  was  enjoyed  by  this  boy  of  fifteen, 
who  was  then  fortunate  enough  to  listen  to  such  orators  as 
Daniel  Webster  and  John  Quincy  Adams. 

One  who  was  in  the  same  division  of  his  class  relates  an  inci- 
dent which  illustrates  his  acquisitions  and  tastes  at  this  time : 

"He  was  not  always  attentive  to  his  studies  at  school;  that  is,  to  the 
specially  appointed  lessons  in  Latin,  Greek,  and  mathematics.  For  the 
first  two  years  of  our  course  we  studied  nothing  whatever  but  Latin  and 
Greek.  But  we  boys  felt  the  superiority  of  his  mind  and  education,  though 
we  could  get  above  him,  at  times,  in  school  rank.  I  used  to  look  at  him  with 
wonder  as  I  heard  him  talk  on  subjects  I  knew  nothing  of.  The  first  I  ever 
learned  of  the  Labarum  of  the  Romans  was  from  a  discussion  he  had,  in 
common  talk,  with  one  of  his  mates.  He  had  a  full  sense  of  his  knowledge, 
yet  he  never  obtruded  it  upon  his  fellows,  or  showed  any  self-conceit.  When 
we  had  been  less  than  two  years  in  the  school,  he  fell  into  a  dispute  one  day, 
in  the  middle  of  the  class  exercises,  with  an  ill-natured  teacher,  who  under- 
took to  put  him  down  for  ignorance  on  some  point  of  geography,  —  a  branch 
not  studied  in  the  school,  or  made  the  subject  of  examination  on  admission. 
Sumner,  then  about  eleven  years  of  age,  replied,  with  spirit,  that  he  could 
answer  any  question  which  the  teacher  might  put  to  him.  The  teacher  be- 
thought himself  a  moment,  and,  going  to  his  table,  and  looking  up  what 
he  esteemed  a  difficulty,  asked  him  where  Cumana  was.  The  boy  replied 
instantly,  with  a  full  and  correct  answer;  and  no  further  question  was 
asked." 

Other  pupils  at  the  school  do  not  recall  any  characteristics,  as 
distinguishing  him  from  his  fellows. 

He  was  a  thoughtful,  studious  youth,  always  fond  of  reading. 
His  mother,  in  later  life,  often  spoke  of  this  trait  of  his  boyhood. 
He  enjoyed  history  most  of  all,  reading  it  not  in  an  easy,  care- 
less way,  but  with  earnest  attention,  sitting  on  a  low  seat,  and 
with  maps  spread  out  before  him.  When  fourteen  years  of  age, 
he  wrote  a  compendium  of  English  history,  from  Caesars  con- 
quest to  1801,  which  filled  a  manuscript-book  of  eighty-six  pages. 


40  MEMOIR  OF   CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1811-26. 

The  penmanship  is  elaborate  in  the  early  part,  but  less  careful 
towards  the  end.  The  events  are  succinctly  narrated,  in  good 
English,  and  dates  are  given,  with  the  year  and  mten  with  the 
month  and  day.  With  a  boy's  humor  he  begins  with  this  title  : 
"  A  Chronological  Compendium  of  English  History,  by  Charles 
Sumner.  Copyright  secured.  Boston,  1825."  This  abstract, 
probably  begun  at  his  father's  suggestion,  was  a  discipline  in 
composition  and  study,  which  prepared  the  way  for  larger  acqui- 
sitions. In  1826,  when  fifteen  years  old,  he  read  Gibbon's  His- 
tory, copying  at  the  same  time  the  extracts  which  pleased  him. 
Some  of  these  he  re-copied  into  a  commonplace-book,  which  he 
began  in  his  Senior  year  in  college.  His  inquisitive  mind  sought 
knowledge  as  well  in  conversation  as  in  books  ;  and  he  plied  with 
many  questions  travelled  persons  and  his  father's  friends  who 
had  served  as  army  officers  in  the  unsettled  territory  of  the  West. 
This  trait  survived  boyhood,  and  he  always  listened  well  to  those 
who  could  tell  him  aught  worthy  of  note  that  they  had  seen  or 
heard. 

As  a  boy  he  was  little  given  to  sports.  It  is  remembered  that 
he  was  rarely  seen  playing  with  his  mates.  He  was  not  addicted 
to  games.  Once  he  was  sent,  with  his  twin  sister  and  his  brother 
Albert,  to  a  dancing-school,  but  while  enjoying  well  enough  the 
sight  of  others  engaged  in  the  pastime,  he  had  no  fancy  for  shar- 
ing in  it  himself,  and  soon  ceased  to  attend.  Other  boys  of  the 
same  school  met  out  of  school  hours,  on  playgrounds  or  at  their 
father's  houses,  but  he  was  seen  chiefly  at  the  school.  Swimming 
was  the  sport  which  he  enjoyed  most. 

While  thoughtful  and  somewhat  reserved,  he  was  in  no  respect 
severe  or  unsympathetic.  He  was  liked  by  his  fellows,  relished 
fun  in  a  quiet  way,  and  laughed  heartily  at  a  good  story. 
He  was  never  vulgar  or  profane.  His  aesthetic  as  well  as  his 
moral  nature  repelled  indecency  and  irreverence.  Soon  after  he 
entered  the  Latin  School,  a  classmate  of  rather  diminutive  size 
was  attempting  a  juvenile  oath,  when  Charles  called  the  atten- 
tion of  the  boys  and  turned  the  laugh  on  him,  by  saying,  with  a 

comical  expression  of  face,  "  Hear  little .    He  says  '  damn.'  " 

The  rebuke  sufficed. 

His  features  were  at  this  time  strongly  marked,  and  were 
less  attractive  than  in  later  years.  He  was  slender  and  tall. 
He  did  not  carry  himself  easily,  and,  as  the  phrase  is,  did  not 
know  what  to  do  with  his  limbs.     It  was  the  habit  of  the  boys 


Mr.  1-15.]  BOSTON  IN  HIS  BOYHOOD.  41 

in  the  Latin  School  to  give  nicknames  to  each  other,  significant 
of  something  in  their  appearance  or  ways,  by  which  they  were 
uniformly  called,  without  however  intending'  or  giving  offence. 
One  was  applied  to  him,  as  expressive  of  his  awkwardness. 

His  growth  was  rapid,  and  his  constitution  rather  delicate 
than  robust ;  but  his  only  illness  in  early  life  occurred  when  he 
was  six  years  old.  The  fare  of  the  family  table  was  quite  simple, 
but  Charles  was  entirely  content  with  it. 

Boston,  which  with  its  growth  in  space  and  numbers  is  now 
a  city  of  nearly  350,000  inhabitants,1  contained  in  Sumner's 
early  boyhood  only  about  40,000.  It  retained  its  town  organ- 
ization until  1822,  its  citizens  electing  selectmen  and  voting 
upon  municipal  affairs  in  Faneuil  Hall.  Within  its  limits,  then 
quite  narrow,  were  many  open  spaces,  now  covered  by  ware- 
houses and  dwellings.  Ample  gardens  were  spread  out  on 
streets  since  lined  with  blocks.  Families  most  regarded  for 
lineage  and  wealth  lived  near  the  Common  and  the  State 
House,  and  also  on  Fort  Hill,  which  after  being  deserted  by  this 
class  was  levelled  in  1871,  and  is  now  a  thoroughfare  of  business. 
Copp's  Hill,  the  North  End,  and  the  West  End  were  inhabited 
generally  by  citizens  who  enjoyed  a  competency  or  were  raised 
above  poverty  by  their  earnings.  The  suburbs  were  occupied  by 
villages  and  large  farms,  with  estates  here  and  there  of  merchants 
who  drove  daily  to  their  counting-rooms  in  Boston. 

The  people  were  generally  primitive  in  their  mode  of  living. 
A  few  were  moderately  rich,  but  equality  of  condition  was  the 
general  feature  of  society.  The  streets  were  not  as  yet  filled 
with  the  metropolitan  life  which  one  now  meets  in  them.  The 
town  was  more  like  a  large  village  than  a  city.  It  combined 
the  advantages  of  a  well-appointed  communit}^,  but  its  character 
was  that  of  repose  rather  than  rapid  movement.  One  was  hum- 
ble, indeed,  not  to  be  personally  known  to  most  of  his  fellow- 
citizens.  Harvard  College  diffused  an  atmosphere  of  culture 
among  a  people  distinguished  for  a  traditional  love  of  learn- 
ing. Charles's  father,  being  a  lawyer  and  liberally  educated, 
ranked  with  the  intelligent  class,  but  he  had  not  the  fortune 
to  place  him  in  the  more  exclusive  society.  He  had  also 
separated  himself  from  the  political  party  which  attracted  the 
wealth  and  culture  of  New  England.     Among  such  a  people, 

1  The  suburban  cities  of  Cambridge  and  Chelsea  together  contain,  in  addition,  nearly 
70,000  inhabitants. 


'12  MEMOIR  OF   CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1811-26. 

and  with  such  surroundings,  the  boyhood  of  Charles  Sumner  was 
passed. 

The  boy's  life  was  not  wholly  within  the  city ;  he  sometimes 
visited  his  maternal  relatives  at  South  Hingham,  where,  with 
others  of  the  family,  he  was  the  guest  of  his  mother's  uncle. 
Here  he  could  enjoy  the  view  from  Prospect  Hill,  near  by. 
Once,  he  and  his  brother  Albert  took  a  long  walk,  from  South 
Hingham  to  Nantasket  Beach.  He  was  fond  of  going  with  the 
cow-boy  for  the  cattle,  at  evening,  and  had  a  fancy  for  watch- 
ing the  dairy-work  in  the  kitchen.  Later  in  life",  he  spoke 
with  interest  of  these  early  days.  His  surviving  kinsfolk  re- 
call him,  on  these  visits,  as  fond  of  reading,  well  behaved, 
helpful  in  doing  chores,  and  never  mischievous.  He  made  visits 
also  to  his  father's  relatives  in  the  district  of  Dorchester,  now 
comprehended  in  Hyde  Park. 

His  father  did  not  expect  to  send  him  to  college  until  after  the 
last  year  of  his  five-years'  course  at  the  Latin  School  had  begun. 
With  his  limited  means,  he  had  designed  him  for  some  occu- 
pation in  which  he  could  earn  his  livelihood  sooner  than  in  one 
of  the  learned  professions.  Charles  had  desired  a  cadetship  at 
West  Point,  but  no  way  opened  for  admission  to  the  National 
Military  Academy.1  The  father  began  inquiries  in  relation  to 
the  "  American  Literary,  Scientific,  and  Military  Academy," 
under  the  charge  of  Captain  Alden  Partridge,  which  was  first 
established  at  Norwich,  Vt.,  and  had  recently  been  removed 
to  Middletown,  Conn.  The  school  was  conducted  on  a  military 
system,  and  enrolled  cadets  from  nineteen  States.  In  1829 
it  was  discontinued,  and  the  present  Wesleyan  University  was 
established  on  its  site.  The  father's  letter  to  Captain  Partridge 
gives  an  interesting  description  of  his  son  :  — 

Boston,  15  August,  1825. 
Sir,  —  I  have  read  the  prospectus  which  you  issued,  in  1821,  at  Norwich, 
and  I  have  recently  read  a  notice,  in  the  "  Palladium,"  that  you  wish  to  em- 
ploy some  lads  in  your  institution  at  Middletown. 

I  have  a  son,  named  Charles  Sumner,  in  his  fifteenth  year,  and  large  of  his 
age,  but  not  of  so  firm  and  solid  a  constitution  as  I  should  wish  to  have  him. 

1  Charles  Pinckney  Sumner,  in  a  letter  to  Colonel  Sylvanus  Thayer,  commanding  at  West 
Point,  dated  July  14,  1829,  in  which  he  introduces  his  son,  says :  "  It  was  once  my  son's 
wish  to  become  a  member  of  your  institution,  but  I  perceived  it  to  be  a  hopeless  undertaking 
to  procure  his  admission."  The  thought  of  a  military  education  was  probably  prompted  by 
the  circumstance  that  a  relative,  Edwin  V.  Sumner,  and  a  friend  of  the  family,  Josiah  H 
Vose,  were  of  the  regular  army. 


JE-r.  1-15.]  PROPOSED   MILITARY  EDUCATION.  43 

He  has  no  immoral  practices  or  propensities  known  to  me ;  he  has  acquired  a 
pretty  good  knowledge  of  Latin  and  Greek ;  understands  the  fundamental 
rules  of  arithmetic,  and  has  a  superficial  knowledge  of  the  whole.  He  is  well 
acquainted  with  geography  and  history,  both  ancient  and  modern;  in  fine, 
he  has  been  four  years  at  the  public  Latin  School  in  Boston,  sustaining  a 
good  standing  in  the  class,  which  will  be  qualified  for  admission  at  Cam- 
bridge college  in  1826,  for  which  I  do  not  design  him.  The  life  of  a  scholar 
would  be  too  sedentary  and  inactive  for  him. 

I  have  eight  children,  of  whom  this  boy  is  the  oldest,  to  all  of  whom  I 
wish  to  give  a  useful,  but  not  what  is  commonly  called  a  learned,  education. 
My  means  enable  me  only  to  think  of  usefulness.  I  wish  him  to  learn  all  of 
agriculture,  arithmetic,  and  book-keeping  he  conveniently  can  by  a  year's 
attendance,  service,  and  study  at  your  institution ;  also  something,  and  as 
much  as  you  think  proper,  in  the  elements  of  soldiership.  I  wish  him,  if 
convenient,  to  hold  his  own  in  Latin  and  Greek;  and  to  make  some  progress 
in  the  preliminary  branches  of  mathematics.  And,  if  consistent  with  rules 
applicable  to  lads  of  humble  acquirements  and  standing,  I  wish  he  may  be 
admitted  to  hear  your  instructions  on  ancient  and  modern  warfare,  your 
comparison  between  the  phalanx  and  the  legion,  and  some  of  those  orations 
and  lectures  that  I  heard  you  deliver,  a  few  winters  since,  in  Boston,  to 
silent,  instructed,  and  delighted  auditories.  His  knowledge  of  geography 
and  history  is  sufficiently  extensive  and  minute  to  give  him  a  relish  for  such 
ennobling  instruction  and  entertainment.  I  think  I  should  like  to  send  him 
about  the  first  of  September ;  but,  Sir,  if  I  send  him  at  all,  it  must  be  on  a 
footing  of  those  who  seek  employment,  according  to  that  notice  of  yours  which 
I  have  recently  read.  And  I  wish  to  know,  before  you  see  him,  on  what  terms 
he  would  probably  be  received,  and  to  what  employment  he  would  probably 
be  put  that  would  be  serviceable  to  you  and  not  disagreeable  to  his  feel- 
ings ;  feelings  that  do  not  incline  him  to  become  improperly  a  burden  on  you 
or  on  me,  or  to  ordinary  menial  services  that  would  injure  him  in  the  esti- 
mation of  those  lads  who  are  now  his  associates,  among  whom  he  is  destined 
to  earn  his  living,  and,  I  hope,  to  sustain  a  respectable  rank. 

The  notice  I  have  above  alluded  to  has  seemed  to  me  to  lay  you  open  to 
such  inquiries  as  I  have  thus  taken  the  liberty  to  make.  I  do  not  expect 
you  to  descend  to  minutiae  in  your  reply.  I  shall  be  content  with  the  shortest 
answer  that  it  will  comport  with  your  continually  usefully  occupied  time  to 
make;  and,  as  it  is  my  affair  more  than  yours,  I  request  that  your  answer,  if 
it  shall  be  found  consistent  and  agreeable  to  send  one,  may  not  be  postpaid. 

The  above  is  in  the  handwriting  of  my  son.     I  will  only  add  that  I 

am,   Sir, 

Your  respectful  and  obedient  servant  and  well-wisher, 

Charles  P.  Sumner, 

A  Deputy-sheriff  of  Suffolk. 
Alden  Partridge,  Esquire. 

The  father's  plan  for  the  education  of  his  son,  who  entered 
heartily  into  it,  was  changed  by  the  improvement  in  his  own 


44  MEMOIR  OF   CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1811-26. 

fortunes  which  took  place  three  weeks  after  his  letter  to  Cap- 
tain Partridge.  On  Sept.  6,  he  was  appointed  Sheriff  of  Suffolk 
County ;  an  office  whose  revenues  enabled  him  to  dispense  with 
the  rigid  economy  he  had  hitherto  been  compelled,  with  his 
narrow  income  and  large  family,  to  practise.  A  few  months 
later  he  determined  upon  a  college-course  for  his  son.1 

At  the  beginning  of  September,  1826,  Charles  entered  upon 
his  studies  as  a  member  of  the  Freshman  Class  of  Harvard 
College.  A  week  later,  his  father  gratefully  acknowledged  to 
Mr.  Gould,  the  head-master  of  the  Latin  School,  the  value  of  the 
services  rendered  by  its  instructors  to  his  son,  and  particularly 
those  of  Mr.  Leverett,  to  whose  accuracy,  he  wrote,  Charles  had 
often  borne  his  testimony,  and  whose  faithful  attentions  he  had 
received  during  the  whole  of  his  five-years'  course  in  the  school. 

1  His  letter  to  Governor  Lincoln,  who  appointed  him,  attributed  to  this  appointment  his 
ability  to  send  his  son  to  college.    Ante,  p.  22. 


Note.  — Since  this  chapter  was  stereotyped,  there  has  been  found  among  the  files  of  the 
War  Department  a  letter  of  Charles  Pinckney  Sumner  to  the  Secretary  of  War,  dated  Nov. 
22,  1825,  in  which  he  applies  for  a  cadetship  for  his  son  Charles  at  West  Point.  This  letter 
shows  that  the  father's  purpose  to  send  his  son  to  college  was  not  formed  immediately  after 
his  appointment  as  sheriff.  The  interesting  part  of  the  letter  (in  which  he  gives  Mr.  Web- 
ster and  Judge  Story  as  his  own  references)  is  as  follows :  — 

"My  oldest  son,  Charles  Sumner,  is  desirous  of  being  admitted  a  member  of  the  Military 
Academy  at  West  Point.  He  will  be  fifteen  years  old  in  January  next.  He  is  of  a  good 
constitution  and  in  good  health,  although  unusually  studious.  He  is  well  acquainted  with 
Latin  and  Greek ;  is  somewhat  acquainted  with  arithmetic  and  algebra,  and  French.  He 
is  exceedingly  well  acquainted  with  history  and  geography,  both  ancient  and  modern. 
He  knows  the  scenes  of  many  of  the  distinguished  battles  of  ancient  and  modern  times, 
and  the  characters  of  the  heroes  who  figured  in  them.  He  has  a  strong  sense  of  patriotic 
pride,  and  a  devotion  to  the  welfare  and  glory  of  his  country.  He  is  now  at  the  Latin 
School  in  Boston,  and  in  August  next  will  be  qualified  to  enter  the  University  at  Cam- 
bridge.   He  prefers  the  Academy  at  West  Point." 


iET.  16-19.]  COLLEGE  LIFE.  40 


CHAPTER  IV. 

COLLEGE  LIFE.  — SEPTEMBER,  1826,  TO  SEPTEMBER,  1830.— AGE,  16-19. 

SUMNER  began  his  studies  as  a  Freshman  at  Harvard  Col- 
lege, Sept.  1,  1826.1  Its  undergraduates,  now  increased  to 
more  than  eight  hundred,  numbered  at  that  period  not  quite  two 
hundred.  Rev.  John  T.  Kirkland  was  the  president.  Among  the 
professors  were  Edward  T.  Channing  in  rhetoric,  George  Ticknor 
in  French  and  Spanish  literature,  John  S.  Popkin  in  Greek, 
George  Otis  in  Latin,  Levi  Hedge  in  logic  and  metaphysics,  and 
John  Farrar  in  mathematics  and  natural  philosophy.  Francis 
Sales2  was  the  instructor  in  French  and  Spanish,  and  Charles 
Follen  in  German  and  the  civil  law.  Of  the  corps  of  teachers 
then  in  service,  none  survive.  In  1829,  Josiah  Quincy  succeeded 
Dr.  Kirkland  in  the  presidency  of  the  college. 

Sumner  occupied,  in  his  Freshman  year,  the  room  numbered 
17  Hollis  Hall ;  in  his  Sophomore  and  Junior  years,  12  Stoughton ; 
and  in  his  Senior,  23  Holworthy.  This  last  room,  of  which  the 
ceiling  has  since  been  raised,  is  situated  in  the  fourth  story,  and 
contains  two  dormitories  and  one  study-room.  Holworthy  had 
superior  accommodations,  and  was  at  that  time  reserved  chiefly 
for  Seniors.  The  classmates  with  whom  he  associated  most 
were  John  W.  Browne,  of  Salem,  his  chum  in  the  Sopho- 
more and  Senior  years;  Jonathan  F.  Stearns,  of  Bedford,  his 
chum  in  the  Freshman  year ;  Thomas  Hopkinson,  of  New 
Sharon,  Me. ;  and  Charlemagne  Tower,  of  Paris,  N.  Y.  Of  these, 
only  Stearns  and  Tower  survive. 

Browne  studied  law,  opening  an  office  in  Salem,  and  afterwards 
removing  to  Boston.  His  mind  and  character  were  of  an  original 
cast,  and  he  made  a  strong  impression  on  the  friends  who  knew 

1  A  letter  of  his  father,  written  to  him  a  few  days  after,  admonished  him  as  to  behavior 
and  associates,  and  recalled  Professor  Pearson's  warning  to  each  Freshman  class  of  his  time 
at  his  first  meeting  with  it,  of '"  Procul  o,  procul  este,profani." 

2  Mr.  Sumner,  some  years  later,  was  active  in  promoting  a  subscription  for  the  benefit 
of  Mr.  Sales. 


4C  MEMOIR  OF   CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1826-30. 

him  well.  Sumner  was  in  closer  intimacy  with  him  at  this 
period  than  with  any  other  companion,  and  felt  the  spell  of  his 
peculiar  character  and  temperament. 

"  Of  all  my  classmates,"  said  Sumner,  in  a  tribute  to  Browne  at  the  time 
of  his  death,  in  1860,  "  I  think  he  gave  in  college  the  largest  promise  of  fu- 
ture eminence;  mingled,  however,  with  uncertainty  whether  the  waywardness 
of  genius  might  not  betray  him.  None  then  imagined  that  the  fiery  nature, 
nursed  upon  the  study  of  Byron,  and  delighting  always  to  talk  of  his  poetry 
and  life,  would  be  tamed  to  the  modest  ways  which  he  afterwards  adopted. 
The  danger  seemed  to  be,  that,  like  his  prototype,  he  would  break  loose  from 
social  life,  and  follow  the  bent  of  lawless  ambition,  or,  at  least,  plunge  with 
passion  into  the  strifes  of  the  world.  His  earnestness  at  this  time  bordered 
on  violence,  and  in  all  his  opinions  he  was  a  partisan.  But  he  was  already 
thinker  as  well  as  reader,  and  expressed  himself  with  accuracy  and  senten- 
tious force.  Voice  harmonizes  with  character,  and  his  was  too  apt  to  be 
ungentle  and  loud.  They  who  have  known  him  only  latterly  will  be  sur- 
prised at  this  glimpse  of  him  in  early  life.  A  change  so  complete  in  sentiment, 
manner,  and  voice  as  took  place  in  him,  I  have  never  known.  It  seemed  like 
one  of  those  instances  in  Christian  story,  where  the  man  of  violence  is  soft- 
ened suddenly  into  a  saintly  character.  I  do  not  exaggerate  in  the  least.  So 
much  have  I  been  impressed  by  it  at  times,  that  I  could  hardly  believe  in  his 
personal  identity,  and  I  have  recalled  the  good  Fra  Cristoforo,  in  the  exquisite 
romance  of  Manzoni,  to  prove  that  the  simplest  life  of  unostentatious  good- 
ness may  succeed  a  youth  hot  with  passion  of  all  kinds."  1 

Stearns  was  the  grandson  of  Rev.  Jonathan  French,  of  An- 
dover,  whose  care  for  Sumner's  father  as  a  boy  has  already  been 
mentioned.  Formerly  a  clergyman  in  Newbury  port,  he  is  now 
the  pastor  of  a  Presbyterian  church  in  Newark,  N.  J.  He  took 
high  rank  in  college,  and  has  fulfilled  his  early  promise. 

Hopkinson  received  the  highest  honors  in  the  class.  He  was 
as  a  student  quite  mature,  and  was  older  than  most  of  his  class- 
mates. He  practised  law  in  Lowell,  became  a  judge  of  the  Court 
of  Common  Pleas,  and  was  afterwards  president  of  the  Boston 
and  Worcester  Railroad  Corporation.     He  died  in  1856. 

Tower  practised  law  for  a  time,  and  then  diverged  from  the 
profession.  He  removed  to  Pottsville,  Pa.,  and  has  been  identi- 
fied with  the  management  of  railroads. 

Sumner  was  one  of  the  youngest  members  of  his  class.  With 
the  advantage  of  the  thorough  discipline  of  the  Latin  School,  he 
took  rank  among  its  best  classical  scholars.  He  excelled  in 
translations,  and  entered  into  the  spirit  of  the  authors  so  sympa- 

1  Works,  Vol.  V.  pp.  236-239. 


Mt.  15-19.]  STUDIES   IN  COLLEGE.  47 

thetieally  that  tlieir  best  passages  became  fixed  in  his  memory, 
and  were  ever  after  available  for  use.  His  facility  in  remember- 
ing and  quoting  choice  extracts  —  too  great,  perhaps  —  was  thus 
early  developed.     He  stood  among  the  best  in  forensics. 

In  history  and  belles  lettres  he  was  also  among  the  foremost. 
An  illustration  of  his  industry  in  this  department  may  here  be 
given.  The  students  attending  Professor  Ticknor's  lectures  were 
each  provided  with  a  printed  syllabus  of  leading  dates  and  events. 
Sumner  attended,  in  his  Sophomore  year,  the  French  course,  be- 
ginning Jan.  21,  and  ending  March  22,  1828.  After  each  lect- 
ure, he  wrote  out  from  brief  memoranda  full  notes,  to  which  he 
added  an  index,  the  whole  filling  a  book  of  one  hundred  and  fifty 
pages.1  The  lectures  are  reported  with  such  clearness  and  ful- 
ness, and  such  fidelity  to  the  instructor's  style,  that  they  might 
be  now  read  with  advantage  to  a  class.  Professor  Ticknor,  hear- 
ing of  the  notes,  requested  Sumner's  father  to  send  them  to  him. 
On  returning  them,  July  7, 1828,  he  wrote  :  "  I  return  your  son's 
notes,  with  many  thanks.  They  have  gratified  me  very  much, 
for  I  am  always  pleased  when  I  find  a  student  disposed  to  get 
as  much  out  of  me  as  he  can.  If  your  son  continues  as  diligent 
as  he  has  been,  he  will  go  far  in  the  ways  of  reputation  and  suc- 
cess," The  student  was  encouraged  by  the  teacher's  praise,  and 
his  taste  for  Continental  literature  was  stimulated  at  this  early 
period  by  the  instructions  of  this  accomplished  scholar. 

But  while  succeeding  in  these  branches,  he  entirely  failed  in 
mathematics.  He  had  no  faculty  for  the  science,  and  he  became 
disheartened  and  disgusted  with  the  study.  The  elective  system 
had  not  then  been  introduced,  and  there  was  no  escape  from  the 
prescribed  course.  He  is  reported  by  one  classmate  to  have  said 
that  he  had  not  cut  the  leaves  of  some  of  the  text-books  in 
this  department.2  His  difficulty  extended,  of  course,  more  or 
less,  to  applied  mathematics  under  whatever  name.  With  down- 
right frankness  he  said,  one  day,  in  the  recitation-room,  to  the 
professor  who  was  pursuing  him  with  questions,  "  I  don't  know ; 
you  know  I  don't  pretend  to  know  any  thing  about  mathe- 
matics." Quickly,  but  good-humoredly,  the  professor  replied, 
getting  the  laugh  on  the  pupil,  "  Sumner !    Mathematics  !  mathe- 

1  His  niemoraudum-book,  and  also  his  copy  of  the  syllabus  of  the  lectures  on  Spanish 
literature  with  his  pencil  interlineations  of  the  lecturer's  points,  are  preserved. 

2  Dec.  27,  1829,  he  wrote  to  Stearns,  who  was  then  teaching  at  Weymouth,  "  Browne 
went  home  and  escaped  the  mathematical  examination.  That  I  attended.  All  I  can  say 
about  myself  is,  gratia  Deo,  I  escaped  with  life." 


48  MEMOIR  OF  CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1826-30 

matics !  Don't  you  know  the  difference  ?  This  is  not  mathe- 
matics. This  is  physics"  His  failure  in  mathematics  lowered 
very  much  his  general  standing,  and  excluded  any  hope  of  suc- 
cessful competition  for  the  higher  parts.  If,  when  entering  col- 
lege, he  aspired,  as  there  is  reason  to  believe,  to  high  rank  in  his 
class,  he  soon  gave  up  any  ambition  of  this  kind.  He  studied 
well  such  text-books  as  he  liked,  neglecting  the  rest.  If  he  did 
not  outrank  others  in  the  appointed  studies,  he  had  no  rival  in 
his  devotion  to  miscellaneous  literature.  He  delighted  in  Scott's 
novels,  but  most  of  all  in  Shakspeare,  from  whom  he  was  per- 
petually quoting  in  conversation  and  letters.  No  student  of  his 
class,  when  he  left  college,  had  read  as  widely.  His  memory, 
both  of  thought  and  language,  was  remarkable ;  and  he  imitated 
with  ease  an  author's  style.  Most  of  Sumner's  classmates  do  not 
appear  to  have  anticipated  for  him  more  than  ordinary  success 
in  life ;  but  those  who  kneAV  him  best  were  impressed  with  his 
love  of  books,  and  with  something  in  his  tone  and  manner  which 
gave  assurance  that  he  would  "make  his  mark  in  the  world." 
This  feeling  grew  stronger  near  the  end  of  his  college  course, 
and  particularly  after  the  announcement  of  his  successful  com- 
petition for  a  Bowdoin  prize. 

Early  in  his  Senior 1  year  he  provided  himself  with  a  common- 
place-book. He  copied  into  it  extracts  from  authors  and  con- 
densed statements  of  their  narrations  or  opinions.  The  larger 
number  are  from  the  "  Retrospective  Review,"  a  London  maga- 
zine, first  issued  in  1820,  and  devoted  chiefly  to  early  English 
literature.  Some  are  from  Sir  John  Beaumont's  Elegy  on  the 
"  Lady  Marquesse  of  Winchester,"  printed  in  Chalmers's  "  Eng- 
lish Poets ;  "  Massinger's  "  Fatal  Dowry ;  "  Marston's  "  Antonio 
and  Mellida,"  and  "  What  You  Will ; "  Sir  Thomas  Browne's 
"  Vulgar  and  Common  Errors ;  "  Butler's  "  Reminiscences  ;  " 
Southey's  "  Book  of  the  Church ;  "  Scott's  "  Stories  taken  from 
Scottish  History,"  and  his  «  Life  of  Swift;  "  and  Bulwer's  "  Paul 
Clifford."  He  enjoyed  at  this  time  the  old  English  writers,  par- 
ticularly the  dramatists.  He  wrote  in  his  commonplace-book 
brief  sketches  (drawing  the  material  chiefly  from  the  "  Retro- 
spective Review")  of  Owen  Feltham,  John  Marston,  James 
Howell,  Thomas  Fuller,  Sir  John  Suckling,  and  Robert  South. 

1  In  his  Senior  year  (Sept.  26,  1829),  he  gave  to  the  College  library  a  copy  of  Homer, 
printed  in  1531,  the  first  of  a  series  of  contribution*  which  ended  with  his  bequest  of  one-half 
of  his  estate  and  his  library  and  autographs. 


JEt.  15-19.]  READING  IN  COLLEGE.  49 

The  notice  of  the  autobiography  of  Jerome  Cardan,  in  the  "  Re- 
trospective Review,"  specially  interested  him.  Some  of  the  ex- 
tracts from  these  authors  reappear  in  his  subsequent  writings 
and  speeches.  One  from  Beaumont,  copied  March  16,  1830,  was 
applied  to  the  Mt.  Auburn  Cemetery,  in  his  tribute  to  Judge 
Story.1     One  from  Marston  — 

"  O,  a  faire  cause  stands  firme  and  will  abide. 
Legions  of  angels  fight  upon  her  side !  "  — 

was  introduced,  Aug.  22,  1848,  in  his  speech  in  Faneuil  Hall.2 

On  March  8,  1830,  he  wrote  thus  of  the  "  Old  English 
Writers :  "  — 

"  I  admire  the  old  English  authors.  In  them  is  to  be  found  the  pure  well 
of  English  undefiled.  There  is  a  richness  of  expression  with  them  to  which 
we  moderns  are  strangers;  but,  above  all,  there  is  a  force  and  directness 
which  constitute  their  chief  merit.  They  are  copious  without  being  diffuse, 
and  concise  without  being  obscure.  They  had  not  then  learned  —  or,  if  they 
had  learned,  they  had  not  practised  —  the  art  of  wire-drawing  a  sentence  into 
a  page,  and  a  page  into  a  book.  Learning  was  then  confined  to  fewer  than 
at  present,  and  consequently  there  must  have  been  fewer  authors.  There 
were  then  no  would-be  authors,  who  sprung  up  like  mushrooms,  and  died  as 
soon.  Few  attempted  to  play  the  part  who  were  not  competent  to  its  per- 
formance. They  did  not  write  till  the  spirit  within  forced  them  to ;  and  when 
they  did,  they  wrote  with  all  that  energy  and  expansion  of  thought  which 
sincerity  and  earnestness  could  not  fail  to  give.  Their  illustrations  and  fig- 
ures are  most  striking;  there  is  a  simplicity,  a  grandeur,  and,  withal,  a  per- 
tinency, about  them  which  we  look  for  in  vain  amongst  the  '  exquisites  '  of 
our  '  degenerate  days. '  Their  works  are  not  scattered  over  with  flowers,  which 
only  serve  to  deck  and  adorn  them  without  adding  to  their  strength  or  clear- 
ness. Their  figures  rather  resemble  pillars,  which  are  at  once  ornaments  and 
supports  of  the  fabric  to  which  they  are  attached.  Witness  the  beauty  and 
strength  of  Shakspeare's  allusions,  and  also  those  of  Jeremy  Taylor  and  Ba- 
con .  The  latter  of  these  comes  among  the  last  of  those  who  can  be  numbered 
in  that  iron  phalanx  which  we  denominate  the  '  old  English  writers.' 

"  How  can  we  account  for  this  great  superiority  that  they  possessed  over 
us  in  point  of  real  strength  and  beauty?  It  was  because  they  depended  more 
upon  their  own  resources ;  because  they  thought.  Yet  many  of  their  works 
are  most  curious  examples  of  pedantry,  which  none  of  the  dullest  dogs  of  our 
dull  days  could  hope  to  equal  even  in  this  particular.  Who  has  ever  pro- 
duced a  work  more  pedantic  and  yet  more  pregnant  with  sound  thought  and 
beautiful  allusion  than  Burton?     His  '  Anatomy  of  Melancholy '  is  a  perfect 

1  Works,  Vol.  I.  p.  136.  For  other  extracts  from  the  old  English  writers  in  his  addresses, 
see  Vol.  I.  pp.  10,  141,  401 ;  Vol.  II.  pp.  14,  36,  42,  127. 

2  Orations  and  Speeches,  Boston,  1850,  Vol.  II.  p.  270. 


4 

■  r 


5U  MEMOIR   OF  CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1826-30. 

mass  of  pedantry,  yet  the  genius  of  the  author  shines  like  a  bright  star 
through  the  night  which  would  have  obscured  a  luminary  of  less  magnitude." 

On  Jan.  15,  1880,  he  copied  several  extracts  from  Carlyle's 
article  on  Burns,  in  the  "  Edinburgh  Review."  1  Not  knowing 
its  author,  lie  prefaced  his  extracts  with  a  note,  that  in  the  num- 
ber "  is  a  most  elegant  article  on  the  life  and  character  of  Robert 
Burns,  the  Scotch  poet.  It  is  written  with  a  great  deal  of  force 
and  beauty  of  imagery,  and  shows  a  masterly  knowledge  of  the 
character  it  is  describing." 

Sumner  allowed  himself  but  little  recreation,  much  preferring 
his  room  and  his  books.  He  took  no  part  in  the  sports  of  the 
Delta.  Cards  and  chess  he  played,  but  not  often.  Unlike  most 
students  with  his  opportunities,  he  did  not  go  into  society.  He 
seldom  took  walks  during  term-time,  except,  on  Saturday,  to  visit 
the  family  in  Boston.  A  classmate  (Dr.  Jonathan  W.  Bemis) 
recalls  an  excursion  made  with  him  in  the  Freshman  year,  con- 
trary to  the  regulations,  to  the  Brighton  cattle-fair.  The  fathers 
of  the  two,  who  also  had  been  classmates,  happened  to  be  there 
together,  and  met  their  sons.     This  colloquy  occurred  :  — 

"  Why,  Charles,"  said  Sumner's  father,  u  how  came  you  here  ?  " 
"  I  thought,"  Charles  replied,  "  that  we  could  leave  without  detri- 
ment to  our  studies,  and  could  see  how  things  were  going  on." 
The  fathers  advised  the  sons  to  return  speedily.  Sumner's 
father  took  young  Bemis  aside  for  the  moment,  and  inquired, 
"  How  is  Charles  in  mathematics  ?  "  "  Very  good  indeed,  sir," 
said  young  Bemis,  unwilling  to  compromise  his  classmate.  "  I'm 
glad  of  it,"  said  Mr.  Sumner.  "  He  then  is  doing  better  than  I 
did ;  for  I  let  drop  the  links  and  lost  the  chain,  and  have  never 
been  able  to  take  it  up  again." 

Sumner  escaped  the  moral  dangers  which  beset  a  student's 
life.  He  was  never  profane,  and  rarely  indulged  in  expletives  of 
any  kind.  He  was  kindly  to  all,  and  took  the  best  view  of  the 
conduct  and  purposes  of  others.  He  was  very  social,  enjoyed 
pleasantry  and  good   cheer,  and  was  a  favorite  in  his  class.2 

1  Vol.  XLVIII.  (December,  1828),  pp.  267-312. 

2  His  classmate,  Frost  (afterwards  a  Unitarian  clergyman),  wrote  to  him,  July  29,  1833, 
regretting  that  he  had  missed  him  on  a  recent  visit  to  Cambridge,  and  lost  the  opportunity 
of  "drinking  in  some  of  the  invigorating  influences  of  your  buoyant  spirits  and  refreshing 
sociality."  Tower  wrote  to  him,  Feb.  3,  1833,  "It  is  an  unusual  pleasure  that  one  of  }'our 
letters  always  calls  up  in  the  remembrance  of  our  intercourse.  It  was  always  harmonious 
and  rich  with  innocent  enjoyment.  And  our  utolen  chats  in  Farrar's  recitation-room.  I 
believe,  were  about  as  keen  of  relish  as  any  in  the  whole  history  of  classmate  pleasures." 


^t.  15-19.]  CORRESPONDENCE.  51 

He  had  none  of  the  coarseness  and  indifference  to  the  feelings  of 
others  which  boys  are  apt  to  have,  and  was  quick  to  beg  pardon 
when  he  found  that  he  had  unconsciously  wounded  them.  He 
always  relished  a  happy  quotation  from  an  author,  suggested  by 
some  incident  or  remark.  When  the  conversation  turned  one 
day  on  Zerah  Colburn's  precocious  powers  as  a  mathematician, 
he  repeated  with  zest  the  couplet,  — 

"  As  yet  a  child,  nor  yet  a  fool  to  fame, 
He  lisped  in  numbers,  for  the  numbers  came." 

As  muscular  youths  delight  in  a  wrestle,  he  enjoyed  the  in- 
tellectual exercise  of  a  debate  with  his  friends  upon  vexed  ques- 
tions in  literature  and  history,  and  sometimes  pressed  his  view 
aggressively. 

Three  of  his  letters  while  in  college  are  preserved.  They 
were  written  in  the  winter  of  1829-30,  to  his  classmate,  Stearns, 
then  teaching  a  school  at  Weymouth.1  Two  of  them  relate  in 
a  light  mood  the  incidents  and  gossip  of  college  life  ;  the  affairs 
of  the  Hasty-Pudding  Club ;  its  annual  meeting,  with  the  oration 
and  poem ;  its  new  catalogue,  prepared  by  a  committee  of  which 
he  was  a  member ;  the  election  of  Wendell  Phillips  as  its  presi 
dent ;  the  meetings  of  "  The  Nine  ;  "  the  issue  of  the  new  maga- 
zine, "  The  Collegian  ■, "  the  examination  in  mathematics ;  the 
love-affairs  of  students  ;  and  a  trial  in  which  he  had  heard  Sam- 
uel Hoar  make  "a  most  excellent  and  ingenious  plea."  The 
letter  of  Dec.  12,  1829,  begins  with  a  sentence  filling  nearly 
a  page,  —  a  parody  on  the  style  of  Dr.  Thomas  Brown's  "  Phi- 
losophy of  the  Human  Mind,"  an  abridgment  of  which,  by 
Professor  Hedge,  was  a  text-book  for  the  Senior  Class,  —  and 
it  closes  thus :  — 

"  Have  told  you  every  thing  new  in  college  now.  Every  thing  here  is 
always  the  same,  —  the  same  invariable  round  of  bells  and  recitations,  of 
diggings  and  of  deads !  Mathematics  piled  on  mathematics !  Metaphysics 
murdered  and  mangled !  Prayer-bells  after  prayer-bells ;  but,  worse  than  all, 
commons  upon  commons!  Clean,  handsome  plates,  and  poor  food!  By  the 
way,  the  commons  bell  rung  fifteen  minutes  ago.  If  I  don't  stop,  I  shall  lose 
the  invaluable  meal.     Accordingly,  adieu. 

"  Charles  Sumner. 

l  The  letter  of  Dec.  27, 1829,  speaks  of  his  purpose,  in  company  with  his  classmate, 
Frost,  to  make  a  pedestrian  trip  to  Weymouth.  Tower  remembers  him  as  wearing  in  col- 
lege a  "  cloak  of  blue  camlet  lined  with  red,"  and,  in  a  letter  written  soon  after  they  left 
college,  recalled  him  as  "muffled  in  his  ample  camlet." 


52  MEMOIR  OF   CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1826-30 

"N.  B.  —  Spare  me!  Oh,  spare  me!  Eheu  me  miserum!  at  a!  Svo-ravos 
eya>! x  I  arrived  too  late;  lost  my  breakfast;  got  to  University,  however,  soon 
enough  to  be  present  at  one  of  Follen's  lectures.  '  This  was  the  unkindest 
cut  of  all.'     Again,  adieu.  C.  S." 

The  third,  beginning  with  an  extract  from  Shakspeare,  con- 
tains a  full  narrative  of  the  suicide  of  a  student,  who  shot  himself 
"  about  a  third  of  a  mile  from  the  colleges,  on  the  Craigie  Road, 
about  where  the  bushes  are."  It  moralizes  on  the  evil  courses 
and  fatalistic  notions  of  the  young  man,  and  the  rather  heroic 
style  which  he  affected  in  the  fatal  deed.  "  There  is  more  of 
the  old  Roman  in  his  end  than  in  that  of  any  suicide  since  the 
days  of  Cato.  How  differently  is  he  now  regarded  from  what  he 
would  have  been,  if  he  had  lived  in  those  days  when  self-murder 
was  admired  and  considered  the  most  noble  exit  from  the  earthly 
stage !  "  These  three  letters  of  Sumner,  the  earliest  preserved, 
do  not  distinguish  his  correspondence  from  that  of  most  under- 
graduates. The  frequent  quotations  which  appear  in  them  are 
alone  suggestive  of  a  habit  of  his  life. 

His  pertinacity  in  his  opinions  and  purposes  was  then  a  prom- 
inent feature  of  his  character.  His  classmate,  Rev.  Dr.  Samuel 
M.  Emery,  says  :  — 

"  Sumner  was  not  in  the  habit  of  changing  his  opinions  or  purposes.  He 
adhered  to  them  as  long  as  he  could.  If  he  had  an  idea  that  A  and  B  stood 
the  highest  of  any  in  the  class,  nothing  could  change  his  opinion  except  their 
having  the  third  or  fourth  part  at  Commencement.  If  he  appointed  a  certain 
evening  to  go  into  Boston,  he  would  go  even  in  a  violent  snow-storm.  Being  a 
lover  of  truth,  if  he  conceived  he  had  reached  the  truth  on  any  subject,  —  e.  g. 
the  slavery  question,  — he  would  not  yield  to  the  exigency  of  the  times,  or  to 
any  authority,  however  high.  His  persistency  in  whatever  he  undertook  was 
immovable.  It  is  well  illustrated  by  an  incident  which  occurred,  I  believe, 
in  the  Sophomore  year." 

The  incident  related  by  Dr.  Emery  was  this  :  The  college 
rules  at  this  time  prescribed  an  undergraduate's  uniform  dress ; 
and,  as  one  of  the  details,  a  waistcoat  of  "  black-mixed,  or  black ; 
or,  when  of  cotton  or  linen  fabric,  of  white."  Sumner  wore  a 
buff-colored  waistcoat,  which  encountered  the  observation  of 
the  "Parietal  Board."  He  maintained  that  it  was  white,  or 
nearly  enough  so  to  comply  with  the  rule.  He  persisted  in  his 
position,  and  was  summoned  several  times  to  appear  for  disobe- 
dience ;  but  to  no  purpose.     The  Board,  wearied  with  the  con- 

1  Soph.  Oed.  Tyr.  1307,  1308. 


JEi.  15-19.]  PARTS  AT  EXHIBITIONS.  53 

troversy,  at  length  yielded.  Other  classmates  do  not  recall 
the  incident ;  but  Dr.  Emery  is  corroborated  by  a  memorandum 
on  Sumner's  college-bill  for  the  first  term  of  his  Junior  year, 
—  "  admonition  for  illegal  dress." 

He,  however,  in  general  conformed  gracefully  to  the  college 
regime,  and  rarely  encountered  the  criticism  of  the  administra- 
tion. He  was  regular  in  attendance  on  recitations ;  and  during 
his  first  year  he  was  observant  of  the  rule  which  required  the 
students  to  be  present  at  daily  worship  in  the  chapel,  though 
afterwards  somewhat  negligent  in  this  respect. 

His  college  bills  did  not  exceed  the  average  bills  of  his  class. 
Including  instruction,  board  in  commons,  rent  and  care  of  room, 
fuel,  use  of  class-books,  and  other  fees,  they  amounted  for  the 
four  years  to  less  than  eight  hundred  dollars,  which  is  now  quite 
a  moderate  expenditure  for  a  single  year.  These  were  carefully 
filed  at  the  time,  and  preserved  by  him. 

In  his  Sophomore  year  (May  13,  1828),  eighteen  members  of 
the  class  received  deturs  ;  but  his  name  is  not  among  them. 

At  the  Junior  exhibition  (April  28,  1829),  Frost,  Andrews, 
and  Sumner  were  assigned  parts  in  a  Greek  dialogue,  respectively 
as  mathematician,  linguist,  and  orator.  Sumner  was  reluctant  to 
take  his  part,  but  yielded  to  the  entreaty  of  his  father,  who  was 
anxious  that  he  should  have  the  good  opinion  of  Mr.  Quincy, 
recently  elected  President  of  the  College.  Greek  dialogues  are 
ordinarily  mere  spectacles  on  such  occasions ;  the  language  unin- 
telligible to  most  of  the  audience,  and  the  thought  little  regarded 
by  those  who  sustain  the  characters :  and  this  one  was  no  excep- 
tion to  the  rule.  Sumner,  in  maintaining  the  superior  claims  of 
the  orator,  was  unconsciously  somewhat  prophetic  of  his  future. 
His  English  translation  of  the  dialogue  gives  the  following  as 
the  reply  with  which  he  concluded  :  "  You  may  both  despise  my 
profession,  but  I  will  yet  pursue  it.  Demosthenes  and  Pericles, 
examples  of  former  days,  will  be  like  stars  to  point  out  the  path- 
way to  glory ;  and  their  glory  will  always  be  the  object  of  my 
desire." 

At  the  Senior  exhibition  (May  4,  1830),  Bryant,  Gardiner, 
Kerr,  and  Sumner  had  parts  in  a  conference ;  namely,  "  A  Com- 
parative Estimate  of  Alexander,  Csesar,  Cromwell,  and  Bonaparte 
as  Statesmen  and  Warriors."  Sumner's  part  is  well  written  and 
spirited.  While  admitting  the  selfish  ambition  of  the  French 
emperor,  and  his  subversion  of  the  liberties  of  his  country,  he 


54  MEMOIR   OF  CHARLES   SUMNER.  [182o-30. 

insisted  that  he  had  exhibited  high  intellectual  power,  and  had 
rendered  most  important  services  to  France.  Some  years  later, 
his  view  of  Napoleon  corresponded  more  with  that  which  Rev. 
Dr.  William  E.  Channing  set  forth  in  papers  published  in  1827, 
1828.     In  his  part  he  said,  — 

"  It  is  too  much  in  fashion  to  depreciate  the  abilities  and  to  misrepresent 
the  actions  of  Napoleon.  All  the  criminalities  and  missteps  of  a  life  of  great 
temptation  and  power  have  been  raked  up  against  him,  while  the  innumerable 
benefits  he  conferred  upon  his  country,  and  the  glorious  actions  he  performed, 
have  all  been  forgotten.  .  .  .  Yet  this  man,  who  could  lead  an  army  on  to 
victory,  organize  the  government  of  a  great  nation,  form  and  digest  the  Code 
Napoleon,  —  this  man,  whose  works  are  not  written  upon  leaves  which  can 
be  scattered  by  the  winds,  but  indelibly  stamped  on  the  whole  face  of  Europe 
and  of  the  age  in  which  he  lived,  —  this  man  has  been  denied  the  possession 
of  high  intellectual  powers!  " 

At  the  Commencement,  Aug.  25,  1830,  twenty-four  of  the 
forty-eight  members  of  his  class  were  awarded  parts.  The  high- 
est honors  were  borne  by  Hopkinson,  Stearns,  Tower,  and  An- 
drews. Sumner's  was  an  inferior  part,  not  equal  to  his  general 
ability  or  merits  as  a  scholar,  nor  what  his  classmates  thought  he 
deserved,  but  all  that  his  standing  in  the  regular  course  strictly 
admitted.  He  was  one  of  four  in  a  conference  on  "  The  Roman 
Ceremonies,  the  System  of  the  Druids,  the  Religion  of  the  Hin- 
doos, and  the  Superstition  of  the  American  Indians."  The  dif- 
ferent systems  were  set  forth  in  their  order  by  "  John  Bryant,  of 
Boston,  Isaac  A.  Jewett,  of  Columbus,  Ohio,  John  B.  Kerr,  of 
Talbot  County,  Md.,  and  Charles  Sumner,  of  Boston."  Sumner 
treated  with  sympathy  and  respect  the  religious  belief  of  the 
Indians.  He  wrote  on  his  manuscript  that  the  programme  had 
miscalled  the  part,  which  should  have  been  "  The  Religious  No- 
tions of  the  North  American  Indians."  He  seems  to  have  been 
somewhat  sensitive  about  his  part.  Anticipating  his  place  on 
the  programme,  he  had  proposed  to  decline  in  advance  any  share 
in  the  public  exercises  of  Commencement.  His  father  interfered 
with  an  earnest  protest  against  this  course.  "  You  have  gained," 
he  wrote  to  his  son,  May  16, 1830,  "  credit  by  the  parts  you  have 
performed ;  and  I  do  not  doubt  you  could  sustain  your  reputa- 
tion amid  any  competition.  You  have  never  been  associated 
with  any  but  honorable  compeers  on  exhibition  days,  and  the 
esteem  in  which  the  Faculty  hold  you  is  to  me  a  source  of  satis- 
faction."    The  next  day,  his  father  wrote  to  President  Quincy, 


J^t.  15-19.]  COLLEGE   SOCIETIES.  55 

expressing  the  hope  that  conferences  which  were  usually  assigned 
to  students  ranking  from  twenty  to  thirty  in  the  scale  would  be 
hereafter  discontinued,  for  want  of  time,  and  as  the  less  interest- 
ing performances. 

Sixteen  of  the  forty-eight  members  of  Sumner's  class  were 
elected  into  the  Phi  Beta  Kappa  Society,  half  in  the  Junior  and 
half  in  the  Senior  year.  The  elections  required  a  unanimous 
vote,  and  were  made  by  the  undergraduates  already  admitted. 
A  student's  rank  in  his  class  was  considered  to  give  the  best  title, 
though  the  preference  was  sometimes  accorded,  on  account  of 
general  merits,  to  a  student  whose  rank  was  somewhat  below 
that  of  another  classmate.  Sumner  was  not  one  of  the  sixteen.1 
With  his  admitted  superiority  in  general  literature  and  the  favor 
which  he  enjoyed  among  the  students,  it  is  fair  to  infer  that  he 
was  not  near  enough  in  marks  to  the  first  third  of  his  class  to 
justify  his  election  into  the  society.  His  place  was  probably 
within  the  first  half,  but  not  within  the  first  third.  The  scales 
which  determined  the  rank  of  the  students  at  that  time  do  not 
now  exist. 

Sumner  belonged  to  the  "  Hasty-Pudding  Club,"  —  one  of  the 
oldest  and  the  most  popular  of  the  college  clubs.  He  was  ini- 
tiated, Dec.  18,  1828.  He  served  as  a  judge  in  one  of  its  moot 
courts,  held  March  19,  1829.  On  his  motion,  its  first  catalogue 
of  past  and  present  members  was  made  and  printed ;  and  he  was 
one  of  the  committee  appointed  to  prepare  it.  He  was,  when 
a  Senator,  accustomed  to  send  books  to  its  library. 

Some  of  his  class,  in  their  Senior  year,  formed  a  private  society 
for  mutual  improvement,  keeping  even  its  existence  a  secret,  and 
calling  it  "  The  Nine,"  from  their  number.  They  were  Hopkin- 
son,  Stearns,  Sumner,  Browne,  Warren,  Worcester,  Appleton, 
Carter,  and  McBurney.  They  met  in  each  other's  rooms,  read 
essays,  and  each  in  turn  made  up  a  record,  generally  of  an  amus- 
ing kind,  to  be  read  at  the  next  meeting.  On  Nov.  2,  1829, 
Sumner  read,  in  22  Holworthy,2  an  essay  on  the  English  Uni- 
versities of  Cambridge  and  Oxford,  which  he  had  just  pub- 
lished in  a  newspaper,  with  the  signature  of  "  Amicus."  3  It  is 
a  historical  account  of  their  origin  and  methods  of  administration 
and  instruction.     On  the  evening  of  March  1,  1880,  he  read  the 

1  He  was  chosen  an  honorary  member  at  the  anniversary  meeting  of  Aug.  31,  1837. 

2  Hopkinson's  and  Carter's  room. 

8  Independent  Chronicle  and  Boston  Patriot,  Oct.  29,  31. 


56  MEMOIR   OF  CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1826-30. 

record  of  the  previous  meeting,  which  he  had  prepared.  It  gives 
a  humorous  account  of  a  "  bore,"  who,  by  his  presence,  had  un- 
consciously obstructed  for  a  while  a  meeting  of  "  The  Nine ;  " 
and  notes  the  attitude  of  two  members,  who  lay  during  the  even- 
ing on  the  bed,  "  like  Abelard  and  Eloisa  on  their  monument." 

Sumner  competed  for  the  Bowdoin  prize  in  his  Senior  year, 
the  subject  being,  "  The  Present .  Character  of  the  Inhabitants 
of  New  England,  as  Resulting  from  the  Civil,  Literary,  and 
Religious  Institutions  of  the  First  Settlers."  In  June,  he  sent 
in  his  dissertation,  signed,  "  A  Son  of  New  England ;  "  and,  in 
August,  received  the  second  prize  of  thirty  dollars.  The  com- 
mittee of  award  were  John  Pickering,  George  Ticknor,  and  Rev. 
John  G.  Palfrey.  The  tradition  is  that  Sumner's  dissertation  suf- 
fered in  the  comparison  from  its  great  length.  Its  style,  while 
well-formed,  lacks  the  felicity  of  expression  and  fastidiousness  in 
the  choice  of  language  which  mark  his  compositions  in  mature 
life.  In  method,  it  is  manly  and  serious,  never  trivial,  but  want- 
ing in  condensation.  He  was,  as  a  living  classmate  remarks,  too 
"  full  of  matter."  His  citations  and  extracts  show  that  he  left 
nothing  unread  which  could  illustrate  the  subject,  and  that  his 
reading  in  English  literature  was  beyond  that  of  most  under- 
graduates. On  the  Avhole,  the  dissertation,  while  creditable  to 
his  industry  and  thoughtfulness,  does  not  foreshadow  a  distin- 
guished career  as  a  writer.  Although  doing  justice  to  the  Puri- 
tans in  many  respects,  he  dwells  with  some  impatience  on  their 
narrowness  and  religious  eccentricities.1  Later  in  life,  when 
dealing  with  the  great  issues  of  right  and  duty,  he  looked  with  a 
kindlier  eye  on  even  the  rugged  and  imperfect  features  of  their 
character.  Among  the  many  tributes  which  grateful  patriot- 
ism has  paid  to  their  memory  in  recent  years,  none  is  warmer 
and  more  sympathetic  than  his  "  Finger-Point  from  Plymouth 
Rock."  2 

Two  first  prizes  were  given  for  dissertations  on  this  subject,  — 
one  to  his  classmate  Tower,  and  the  other  to  Benjamin  R.  Curtis, 
who  was  then  a  member  of  the  Law  School,  and  afterwards  be- 
came distinguished  as  a  lawyer  and  judge.  In  the  case  of  Curtis, 
more  than  in  Sumner's,  the  style  of  manhood  agrees  with  that  of 

1  Curiously  enough,  Macaulay's  article  on  "Milton,"  published  in  1825,  is  referred  to  in 
the  dissertation,  without  its  author  being  known,  as  "  the  apotheosis  of  the  Puritans  in  the 
pages  of  one  of  the  British  journals." 

2  Speech  at  the  Plymouth  Festival,  Aug.  1,  1853.     Works,  Vol.  III.  pp.  269-275. 


JEt.  15-19.]  REMINISCENCES   OF   CLASSMATES.  57 

youth.  The  former  had  been  one  year  out  of  college,  and  was 
advanced  in  his  legal  course,  —  a  decided  advantage  at  a  period 
of  study  when  intellectual  powers  develop  rapidly. 

The  fortunate  competitors  were  required  to  read  their  disser- 
tations in  the  chapel  before  the  students  and  officers.  Sumner 
read  his  in  the  usual  indifferent  way,  very  rapidly,  and  omitting 
the  greater  part.  He  invested  his  prize-money  in  books,  among 
which  were  Byron's  Poems,  the  "  Pilgrim's  Progress,"  Burton's 
"  Anatomy  of  Melancholy,"  Hazlitt's  "  Select  British  Poets,"  and 
Harvey's  "  Shakspeare."  The  last  two  were  kept  during  life  on 
his  desk  or  table,  ready  for  use ;  and  the  Shakspeare  was  found 
open  on  the  day  of  his  death,  as  he  had  left  it,  with  his  mark 
between  the  leaves,  at  the  Third  Part  of  Henry  VI.,  pp.  446, 
447.     His  pencil  had  noted  the  passage, — 

"  'Would  I  were  dead!  if  God's  good  will  were  so  : 
For  what  is  in  this  world,  but  grief  and  woe  ?  " 

Some  of  Sumner's  classmates  have,  since  his  death,  sketched 
his  character  as  a  student.  At  an  immature  period  of  life  one's 
individuality  is  only  partially  developed,  and  any  portrait  re- 
tained in  the  mind  becomes  dim  after  an  interval  of  nearly  half 
a  century.  The  subsequent  career,  too,  will  to  some  extent  tinge 
the  coloring.  There  is,  however,  a  substantial  identity  in  the 
outlines  as  drawn  by  his  classmates. 

Hon.  Samuel  T.  Worcester,  of  Nashua,  N.  H.,  writes :  — 

"  Though  reasonably  attentive  to  his  college  studies,  and  rarely  absent 
from  the  recitations,  I  do  not  think  that,  as  an  undergraduate,  he  was  dis- 
tinguished for  close  application  to  his  college  studies.  Having  been  much 
better  fitted  for  college,  especially  in  Latin  and  Greek,  than  the  majority  of 
his  class,  he  continued  to  maintain  a  very  high  rank  in  both  the  ancient  and 
modern  languages  through  his  whole  collegiate  course.  He  stood,  also,  very 
well  in  elocution,  English  composition,  and  the  rest  of  his  rhetorical  pursuits. 
In  the  last  year  of  his  college  course,  he  failed  in  all  the  more  abstruse  and 
difficult  mathematics.  His  memory  was  uncommonly  retentive ;  and  it  was 
sometimes  said  of  him  that  he  committed  to  memory,  so  as  to  be  able  to 
repeat  by  rote,  some  of  the  more  difficult  problems  in  mathematics  with  but 
little  apprehension  of  their  import.  Morally,  so  far  as  I  have  ever  heard,  his 
character  while  a  member  of  college  was  without  reproach.  At  the  time  of 
entering  college,  he  was  quite  tall  of  his  age,  and  rather  thin  and  slender  for 
a  youth  of  his  height.  In  manner  he  was  somewhat  awkward,  and  at  times 
seemed  diffident.  He  grew  taller  as  he  grew  older ;  and  upon  graduating, 
though  not  then  arrived  at  his  full  height,  he  was  among  the  tallest  of  his 
class.     Socially,  as  I  remember  him,  he  was  amiable  and  gentlemanly  in 


58  MEMOIR  OF  CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1826-iW. 

his  intercourse  with  his  classmates,  and  uniformly  respectful  to  the  College 
Faculty. ' ' 

Rev.  Dr.  Samuel  M.  Emery,  of  Newburyport,  writes :  — 

"  The  classes  in  college  at  that  time,  as  I  suppose  is  the  case  still,  were 
divided  into  divisions  alphabetically.  Of  course,  as  I  was  nearer  the  be- 
ginning of  the  alphabet,  I  was  not  in  Sumner's  sections,  except  when,  for 
sake  of  variety,  two  sections  would  for  a  time  recite  together ;  and  then  I 
could  not  help  noticing  that  he  acquitted  himself  among  the  best  in  his 
class,  especially  in  construing,  reading,  and  translating  Greek  and  Latin. 
In  mathematics,  his  recitations  were  not  up  to  mediocrity.  He  was  so 
well  prepared  for  college  at  the  Boston  Latin  School,  that  the  lessons  in 
the  classical  department  were  mere  boy's  play  to  him;  and  he  would  have 
a  perfect  lesson  with  half  the  study,  apparently  at  least,  which  most  of  the 
class  would  expend  upon  it.  While  he  hardly  attained  average  rank  in 
mathematical  studies,  he  was  not  exceeded  in  the  Greek  and  Latin  classics, 
in  themes  and  forensics,  and  in  English  literature  generally,  by  any  in  his 
class.  In  the  Junior  and  Senior  years,  public  declamations  were  attended 
in  the  chapel,  when  any  of  the  classes  could  be  present.  In  his  declama- 
tions I  always  noticed  a  great  degree  of  earnestness,  with  an  entire  freedom 
from  any  effort  to  make  a  dash.  I  looked  upon  him  as  one  of  the  best 
declaimers  in  the  class.  It  was  the  same  type  of  subdued  eloquence,  insepa- 
rable from  the  man,  which  he  has  often  put  forth  on  real  and  important 
actions  in  his  public  life. 

"  Sumner  had  been  accustomed  to  literary  society  from  his  youth,  and  was 
brought  up  among  books ;  so  that  study  was  with  him  a  kind  of  second  nat- 
ure. He  never  studied,  as  many  young  men  do,  for  college  honors,  but  for 
love  of  study  and  for  cultivating  his  mind,  —  well  disciplined  and  refined  at 
that  early  age.  He  was  by  no  means  what,  in  our  college  days,  was  denomi- 
nated a  dig,  —  one  who  has  to  study  from  morning  till  night  and  bring  nothing 
to  pass.  He  could  abstract  his  mind  so  as  to  accomplish  in  a  short  time  what 
others  would  employ  hours  upon. 

"  Sumner,  having  always  lived  in  Boston,  and  knowing  all  the  boys  in  the 
Latin  School  for  a  succession  of  years,  had  friends  in  all  the  classes  in  college, 
and  his  circle  of  acquaintance  was  therefore  much  larger  than  that  of  other 
students  who  prepared  for  college  in  schools  remote  from  the  capital.  His 
intercourse  with  the  other  classes  was  as  intimate  almost  as  with  his  own. 
He  was  cordial  to  all,  having  a  kind  word  for  all,  and  ready  for  a  joke  with 
any  one  whom  he  chanced  to  meet:  e.  g.,  he  met  a  classmate  the  morning  after 
the  parts  had  been  announced  for  exhibition,  and  congratulated  him  thus : 
'  Good  morning,  I  am  happy  to  meet  with  a  man  of  parts.'  He  was  more 
dignified  than  most  young  students,  but  genial  at  all  times;  and  would  per- 
petrate a  joke  with  as  much  gusto  as  any  others  of  his  class.  His  good  taste, 
if  nothing  else,  kept  him  from  the  company  of  fast  young  men,  from  any  bad 
habits,  and  generally  from  a  disregard  of  the  college  rules  and  the  strict  pro- 
prieties expected  of  students.     I  do  not  remember  a  single  instance  of  his 


jEt.  15-19-1  REMINISCENCES  OF   CLASSMATES-  i>9 

being  called  before  the  Faculty  for  any  impropriety,  and  only  one  instance 
in  which  the  Parietal  Board  took  him  in  hand;  and  that  was  more  for  a  joke 
on  his  part  than  any  thing  serious. 

"  In  the  Junior  year  I  had  a  room  in  the  same  entry  with  his,  —  the  north 
entry  of  Stoughton  Hall.  Mine  was  in  the  second  story,  and  his  at  the  head 
of  the  stairs  in  the  third  story.  Of  course,  I  then  saw  more  of  him  than  at 
any  previous  time  in  the  college  course.  We  were  often  in  each  other's 
rooms.  He  was  always  engaged  in  his  studies,  or  more  frequently  spending 
his  time  in  general  reading;  indeed,  his  greatest  pleasure  seemed  to  be  found 
in  attending  to  his  favorite  studies,  — works  relating  to  the  humanities  or  the 
arts.  He  was  generally  ready  to  play  a  game  of  chess,  or  take  a  turn  at  foils, 
in  both  which  he  was  sure  to  come  out  first.  Many  a  time  have  I  known 
him  to  rush  down  to  my  room  and  begin  a  speech,  in  which  he  would  intro- 
duce quotations  from  Virgil,  Horace,  and  Juvenal.  He  had  many  parts  of 
those  authors  at  his  tongue's  end,  and  his  quotations  from  them  were  always 
accurate;  and,  if  they  were  quoted  by  others,  he  would  detect  the  least  inac- 
curacy. I  recollect  accompanying  him  to  an  ecclesiastical  council  {ex parte), 
held  in  the  old  court-house  in  Cambridge,  and  convened  for  the  purpose  of 
dismissing  the  Rev.  Dr.  Holmes.  Mr.  Samuel  Hoar,  a  distinguished  lawyer 
of  Concord,  was  counsel  for  the  party  opposed  to  Dr.  Holmes.  Never  having 
heard  him  in  a  set  speech,  Sumner  and  myself  went  for  the  purpose  of  hear- 
ing his  plea,  in  which  he  quoted  the  familiar  verse,  '  Tempora  mutantur,  nos 
et  mutamur  in  illis.'  But,  instead  of  in  illis,  he  said  cum  Hits.  Sumner  was 
greatly  disturbed  by  this  slight  lapse  of  the  tongue  or  memory;  and,  turning 
to  me,  said,  *  A  man  ought  to  be  ashamed  who  quotes  an  author  and  does 
not  quote  correctly.'  I  heard  him  repeat  the  expression  cum  illis  several 
times  afterwards,  intimating  that  he  knew  better  than  to  use  the  wrong 
word  in  quoting  from  Latin  or  Greek. 

**  Sumner  was  a  person  of  remarkable  readiness  and  self-possession.  As  to 
the  former,  I  have  no  doubt  that  even  then,  if  called  upon  to  make  a  speech 
when  he  least  expected  it,  he  would  not  have  been  disturbed  as  most  other 
persons  would  have  been,  but  would  have  acquitted  himself  creditably.  I 
do  not  remember  any  instance  of  this,  but  I  have  no  doubt  he  could  have 
done  it.  As  to  the  latter,  — self-possession,  — it  seems  to  have  been  a  trait 
which  he  inherited  from  his  father,  who,  when  Sheriff  of  Suffolk  County,  was 
called  upon  to  read  the  riot  act,  on  occasion  of  a  riot  in  the  Federal- Street 
Theatre.  It  is  said  he  coolly  went  upon  the  stage,  and  read  it  amidst  a 
shower  of  brick-bats.  The  son  was  like  him  in  that  respect.  He  seemed  as 
much  at  home  in  declaiming  on  public  declamation  days  as  if  speaking  a 
piece  in  his  own  room.  To  me,  and  to  many,  public  declamation  days  were 
a  terror ;  and  it  always  seemed  a  mystery  to  me  how  he  could  be  so  cool  while 
I  trembled  like  an  aspen-leaf. 

"  From  my  first  acquaintance  with  Sumner  until  I  left  Cambridge,  in  De- 
cember, 1835,  to  assume  the  charge  of  a  parish  in  the  Episcopal  Church,  he  was 
always  careful  to  lead  an  exemplary  and  blameless  life,  full  of  kindly  feelings 
and  ready  to  say  a  pleasant  word  to  all ;  and  punctilious  in  all  the  proprieties 
which  refined  society  is  accustomed  to  observe.  ...  I  do  not  remember  to 


60  MEMOIR  OF  CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1826-30. 

have  seen  him  since  the  morning  of  the  day  on  which  he  delivered  his  Phi 
Beta  Kappa  oration,  in  1846.  I  have  always  regarded  him  as  a  true  man, 
high-minded,  who  would  never  stoop  to  any  meanness  for  any  purpose  what- 
ever. Till  he  entered  upon  public  life,  I  never  knew  that  he  had  an  enemy, 
being  kind  and  cordial  to  all,  both  high  and  low  alike,  and  free  from  all 
fawning  to  gain  the  favor  of  any.  His  greatness  was  not,  in  my  opinion, 
the  result  of  ambition  to  become  known  and  distinguished  above  most  other 
men,  but  to  do  his  duty  faithfully  in  whatever  he  took  in  hand,  seeking  the 
right  and  pursuing  it  without  regard  to  public  opinion.  He  was  thoroughly 
equipped  for  the  station  which  he  reached;  and  the  world  knows  how  well 
he  acquitted  himself." 

In  his  vacations,  Sumner  saw  something  of  country  life,  walk- 
ing once  to  Hanover,  with  his  friend  William  H.  Simmons,  and 
occasionally  passing  a  few  days  with  his  father's  uncle,  William 
Sumner,  who  lived  on  what  is  now  River  Street,  in  Hyde  Park, 
then  a  part  of  Dorchester.  This  relative  died  in  1836,  at  the  age 
of  eighty-seven.  The  Neponset  River  flows  just  in  the  rear  of 
his  house.  Near  by  were  then  forests  and  pastures,  where  now 
are  streets  and  dwelling-houses.  Sumner  rowed  on  the  river, 
strolled  over  the  fields,  took  long  walks  to  Scots'  Woods,  the  sea- 
shore at  Squantum,  and  once,  at  least,  made  the  ascent  of  Blue 
Hill.  He  joined  the  farmers  when,  with  their  hay-carts,  they 
went  for  the  salt  hay  they  had  cut  on  the  marshes  of  the  Nepon- 
set. He  seems  to  have  had  a  boy's  passion  for  a  gun,  and  urged 
his  uncle  to  let  him  have  one.  The  tradition  that  he  succeeded 
in  his  appeal  is  confirmed  by  a  sketch  which  he  made  of  himself 
at  the  time,  and  which  is  preserved  in  one  of  his  school-books. 
It  is  marked  with  his  initials  and  the  date  of  January,  1828.  He 
is  accompanied  by  a  dog,  and  the  birds  are  flying  from  a  tree,  all 
safe  from  the  shot  of  his  flint-lock  gun,  which  he  has  just  fired. 
"  Charles's  first  attempt.  Ha !  ha  !  ha !  "  is  written  at  the  foot 
of  it. 

In  those  days  it  was  the  fashion  for  parents  to  give  children 
formal  advice  more  than  now.  His  father  wrote  to  him,  during 
the  vacation  following  his  Junior  year,  hoping  that  his  behavior 
would  be  in  every  way  respectful  to  Mr.  William  Sumner,  on 
account  of  his  age  and  character,  —  advice  which  was  hardly 
needed.  He  says,  in  his  letter :  "  Charles,  upon  your  discretion 
and  good  deportment  the  happiness  of  my  life  will  in  no  trifling 
degree  depend.  If  any  persons  entertain  a  favorable  opinion  of 
you,  I  hope  you  will  never  disappoint  them." 

In  his  Junior  year,  in  company  with  four  classmates,  Frost, 


iET.  15-19.]  EXCURSION   ON  FOOT.  61 

Babcock,1  Penniman,  and  Munroe,  of  whom  only  the  last  sur- 
vives, he  made  a  pedestrian  trip  to  Lake  Champlain.  This  was 
his  first  absence  from  Boston  and  its  suburbs.  He  kept  a  journal 
of  the  excursion,  from  which  the  following  account  is  abridged  : 
The  party  left  Cambridge,  July  14,  1829,  at  four  p.  M.,  "  with 
knapsacks  on  their  backs  and  umbrellas  in  their  hands,  and  in 
high  spirits,"  and  walked  on  "  singing  and  laughing,  and  attract- 
ing considerable  attention."  Refreshing  themselves  in  the  early 
evening,  at  Lincoln,  with  "  a  hearty  supper  of  brown-bread  and 
milk,"  they  passed  their  first  night  at  a  small  inn  in  Concord. 
Rising  before  four  the  next  morning  (15th),  they  went  through 
Sudbury,  Stow,  and  Bolton,  and  lodged  that  night  at  Sterling, 
enduring  severe  heat  during  the  day.  From  Sterling,  which  they 
left  before  five  A.M.  (16th),  they  walked  up  the  steep  hill  to  the 
village  of  Princeton,  where  they  enjoyed  breakfast  at  a  well-kept 
hotel.  Then,  giving  up  the  ascent  of  Mt.  Wachusett  on  account 
of  the  weather,  they  kept  on  their  way  through  a  hilly  and 
uncultivated  country ;  and  picking  raspberries  which  served  for 
luncheon  and  dinner,  and  refreshed  once  by  a  shower,  they  ar- 
rived at  Barre  village,  sixty-five  2  miles  from  Boston,  "  single-file, 
umbrellas  up,  and  singing."  "  We  usually  stopped  to  talk  with 
the  farmers  whom  we  passed,  asked  them  about  the  hay,  and 
heard  some  of  the  stories  Avhich  they  had  to  tell  about  pieces 
of  land  which  they  owned.  One  of  them  told  us  that  he  was 
the  son  of  the  first  man  who  was  born  in  Princeton.  In  this 
manner  we  passed  through  the  towns,  gaining  information  about 
the  state  of  the  country,  and  health  and  strength  by  our  exer- 
cise. Most  of  the  persons  whom  we  passed,  and  with  whom 
we  stopped,  seemed  to  think  that  we  were  doing  wonders. 
They  frequently  said  that  they  should  like  to  take  the  same 
route,  in  the  same  way,  but  thought  they  could  not  go  on 
at  the  rate  we  did.  Barre,  where  we  are  now  waiting  for  our 
supper,  is  a  very  pretty  village.  The  town  is  famous  for  its 
dairies,  making  more  butter  and  cheese  than  any  other  in  the 
State."  Passing  the  night  at  Dana,  which  they  reached  after  an 
evening  walk,  they  rose  as  usual,  at  four  A.  M.  (17th),  and  walked 
through  Greenwich,  "  a  very  pretty  and  pleasant  town,  situated 
on  a  plain,"  observing  Mt.  Pomroy  and  Mt.  Liz ;  thence  to  En- 
field, and  arrived  at  Amherst  "  after  a  most  toilsome  journey 

1  Rey.  Samuel  B.  Babcock,  rector  of  a  parish  in  Dedham.    He  died  in  1373. 

2  The  distances  are  given  as  in  the  journal. 


62  MEMOIR  OF  CHARLES   SUMNER.  [182fi-30. 

through  the  hottest  part  of  the  day."  "  The  people  in  most  of 
the  towns  through  which  we  passed  were  perfectly  astonished, 
and  utterly  at  a  loss  what  to  make  of  us.  At  Barre  we  were 
taken  for  United  States  officers,  and  at  Dana  we  were  asked  if 
we  were  on  a  'peddling-voyage.'  In  another  place  we  were 
taken  for  factory-boys."  The  sight  of  Amherst  and  its  college 
buildings,  and  the  students,  who  were  not  yet  relieved  from  their 
tasks,  was  grateful  to  the  weary  Harvard  lads.  Fatigued  more 
than  before  by  the  heat  and  the  hilly  roads,  they  still,  before 
resting,  sought  the  chapel,  to  attend  evening  prayers.  Next, 
they  visited  the  recitation-rooms,  the  libraries,  the  Mt .-Pleasant 
School,  and  the  chapel  tower,  where  they  enjoyed  "  a  very  fine 
view  of  the  whole  country  round  about."  The  journal  describes 
the  college  buildings  and  the  scenery.  The  next  morning  (18th), 
waked  by  the  college  bell  at  five,  they  attended  prayers,  which 
were  conducted  by  the  President,  in  the  chapel.  After  the  devo- 
tions, Sumner  and  Babcock  set  out,  leaving  their  comrades  to 
follow.  Here  the  journal  records  a  hazardous  adventure  of  the 
advanced  party :  — 

"  It  was  our  determination  to  visit  Mt.  Holyoke.  On  our  arrival  at  the 
bottom  of  the  hill,  we  went  into  a  poor  house  and  got  a  cheap  breakfast. 
We  then  started  to  ascend  the  mountain  by  an  old  and  at  present  unfrequented 
path.  After  going  some  ways,  we  came  to  a  place  where  there  were  two 
roads.  It  was  our  ill  luck  to  choose  the  one  which  proved  to  be  only  a  wood- 
cutter's track.  After  we  had  followed  it  for  some  time,  we  arrived  at  the 
end.  Then,  not  wishing  to  turn  back  and  tread  the  ground  over  again,  we 
pushed  right  into  the  brush  and  wood,  aiming  directly  for  the  summit.  We 
proceeded  with  considerable  difficulty  through  these  impediments,  till  we 
arrived  at  the  upper  part,  which  was  an  almost  perpendicular  ascent  to  the 
summit.  This  part  we  made  great  exertions  to  ascend,  now  catching  hold 
of  the  loose  rocks  and  now  of  the  trees,  and  every  moment  fearing  lest  we 
should  tumble  over  the  precipice.  Our  situation  was  indeed  very  precarious. 
The  least  slip  would  have  been  sufficient  to  place  our  lives  in  imminent 
jeopardy,  and  expose  us  to  almost  certain  destruction.  After  a  hard  struggle 
and  many  desponding  thoughts,  we  at  last  arrived  at  the  top,  where  Frost 
and  a  couple  of  Amherst  students  had  already  been  some  time.  Here  we 
passed  a  considerable  time  in  looking  upon  the  surrounding  country.  The 
prospect  was  most  beautiful,  embracing  a  view  of  the  Connecticut,  wind- 
ing its  way  through  the  most  delightful  fields,  without  a  fence  on  the  road  or 
in  the  fields ;  but  all  presenting  the  appearance  of  one  extensive  field.  Our 
descent  from  the  mountain  was  not  so  unfortunate  as  our  ascent.  There  was 
a  road,  consisting,  part  of  the  way,  of  steps,  which  made  it  very  easy.  On 
our  arrival  at  the  bottom,  we  bathed  in  the  Connecticut,  which  runs  at  its 
base." 


jEt.  15-19]         VISIT  TO  THE   CONNECTICUT  VALLEY.  63 

Crossing  the  river  by  "  the  first  ferry  in  which  horses  and 
teams  were  carried  over  "  that  Sumner  had  ever  seen,  "  the  boat 
being  moved  by  two  horses  on  deck,"  the  travellers  entered 
Northampton,  where  they  admired  the  fine  houses  on  its  main 
street,  visited  the  Round-Hill  School,  and  took  supper  at  the 
Coffee  House.  Then  they  pressed  on  to  Hatfield,  where  they 
were  to  lodge.  Here  their  attention  was  attracted  by  a  house 
with  large  pillars  on  both  sides,  and  apparently  built  of  marble. 
At  this  place,  for  the  sake  of  "a  better  road  and  easier  travel- 
ling," they  changed  their  original  purpose  of  striking  directly 
across  the  mountains,  and  decided  to  go  northward,  following  the 
river  further  up.  On  Sunday  morning  (19th),  they  walked  be- 
fore breakfast  some  six  or  seven  miles,  in  a  rain,  to  Deerfield, 
whose  "  brick  meeting-house  and  a  long  street  shaded  by  elms  " 
were  observed.  The  traditions  of  Indian  warfare  in  the  vicinity 
of  Bloody  Brook  were  recalled.  "  We  are  now  at  Deerfield,  and 
in  the  neighborhood  of  a  spot  famous  for  a  massacre  by  the  In- 
dians. In  fact,  all  these  towns  have  been  the  scene  of  bloody 
battles  between  the  Indians  and  the  first  settlers." 

Sumner,  in  the  afternoon,  went  on  to  Greenfield,  riding  about 
"half  a  mile  in  a  wagon  ;  "  his  first  ride  since  he  left  Boston.  The 
next  morning  (20th),  the  party  journeyed  on  "a  most  delightful 
road,  with  a  brook  running  by  its  side,  and  through  a  beautiful 
wood  "  to  Coleraine,  where  they  paused  for  breakfast.  They  met, 
near  the  border-line  of  Massachusetts  and  Vermont,  a  farmer 
from  Milton,  who  entertained  them  with  "  beer  and  milk,"  and 
they  eat  raspberries  on  the  very  spot  where  the  two  States  divide. 
Thence  they  proceeded  through  an  uncleared,  rocky,  and  hilly 
country,  with  no  habitations  but  a  few  log  huts.  After  "  a  fine 
country  supper  of  brown-bread  and  milk,  at  a  small  village  se- 
cluded among  the  mountains  "  which  they  reached  about  dusk, 
they  went  on  to  the  next  public  house,  five  miles  off. 

"We  were  told,  beforehand,  that  the  whole  road  was  through  a  perfect 
forest,  without  a  single  house  on  the  way.  This  we  found  to  be  too  true. 
It  was  beginning  to  be  dark  when  we  started,  and  we  had  proceeded  scarcely 
a  mile  before  we  found  ourselves  enveloped  in  total  darkness.  The  forest 
through  which  we  were  passing  was  one  of  great  extent,  stretching  over  all 
the  neighboring  country.  It  was  infested  by  wolves,  bears,  and  wildcats. 
The  road  had  been  made  through  it  but  in  the  preceding  spring,  and  had 
not  yet  been  thrown  open.  One  step  would  be  upon  a  smooth  and  slippery 
rock,  and  another  into  a  deep  slough.  Stumps  of  trees  were  in  the  middle 
of  the  road,  and  the  high  woods  by  the  side  shut  out  the  small  light  that  the 


64  MEMOIR  OF   CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1826-30 

moon  would  otherwise  have  afforded.  Every  step  was  made  upon  an  uncer- 
tainty. After  the  longest  five  miles  that  I  ever  went,  I  arrived  at  the  tavern, 
which  happened  to  be  immediately  at  the  end  of  the  road.  This  forest  was 
in  Readsboro.     It  was  thirty^three  miles  that  I  went  to-day." 

Early  the  next  morning  (21st),  after  a  walk  "  through  another 
forest  of  eight  miles,  with  but  one  house  in  the  whole  distance," 
they  breakfasted  at  a  tavern  in  the  neighborhood  of  which  a 
wolf  had  been  shot  the  week  previous.  Here,  as  before,  the 
young  men  excited  the  curiosity  of  the  people.  "  At  one  of  the 
houses  we  passed  we  were  taken  for  play-actors,  on  their  way  to 
Bennington  to  perform.  The  reason  assigned  for  this  belief  was 
that  we  had  c  pale  faces.'  One  of  our  company,  being  taken  for 
a  pedler,  was  asked  '  what  trinkets  he  had  to  sell.' '  They  passed 
over  the  summit  of  the  Green  Mountains,  "  about  the  highest 
eminence  "  on  which  Sumner  had  ever  stood,  with  a  view  extend- 
ing "  from  sixty  to  one  hundred  miles,"  and  descended  the  long 
hill,  two  or  three  miles  in  length,  to  Bennington,  where,  after 
taking  a  view  of  the  iron- works  and  the  unattractive  streets,  they 
set  off  for  the  Revolutionary  battle-field,  six  miles  distant.  "  Here 
Munroe  left  us,  not  being  able  to  keep  up."  They  passed  the 
night  on  the  very  site  of  the  battle  between  the  English  and 
the  colonists,  in  the  house  of  Mr.  Barnet,  who  cordially  wel- 
comed the  visitors  and  refused  compensation  for  their  entertain- 
ment. "  It  was  not  to  visit  the  iron-works  or  to  see  the  condition 
of  the  village,  that  we  were  induced  to  come  in  this  direction. 
We  came  to  visit  a  spot  hallowed  in  American  history,  —  to 
tread  that  field  sacred  to  liberty,  where  the  cause  of  the  col- 
onies first  began  to  brighten.  We  came  upon  a  pilgrimage, 
not  to  the  shrine  of  a  prophet,  but  to  one  of  the  shrines  of  our 
country's  glory."  1  Very  early  the  next  morning  (22d),  their 
host  explained  to  them,  on  the  ground,  the  positions  and  move- 
ments of  the  hostile  forces ;  and  these  Sumner  recorded  with 
particularity.  Leaving  the  house  of  Mr.  Barnet,  as  early  as 
six  in  the  morning,  the  party  breakfasted,  after  a  walk  of  six 
miles,  at  Whitecreek,  in  New  York.  "For  three  successive 
nights  we  have  slept  in  three  different  States,  Massachusetts, 
Vermont,  and  New  York ;  as  well  as  for  three  successive  morn- 
ings we  have  breakfasted  in  these  three  States."  A  few  miles 
further,  Penniman  took  the  stage  for  Saratoga,  as  he  had  pre- 

1  The  journal  of  July  21,  22,  and  23,  varied  and  added  to,  was  printed  in  the  "Boston 
Patriot  and  Mercantile  Advertiser,"  Nov.  20  and  Dec.  3,  182/J. 


JEt.  15-19.]         THE  CANALS  AND   GOVERNOR  CLINTON.  65 

viously  designed.  It  was  Frost's  purpose  to  continue  the  journey- 
on  foot,  but  "  the  sight  of  the  stage  had  such  an  effect  upon  him 
that  he,  too,  immediately  jumped  aboard  and  rode  off  for  the 
Springs.  Babcock  and  myself  are  thus  left  alone  to  perform  the 
excursion  to  the  Lakes."  The  two  passed  through  Cambridge 
and  Union  Village,  to  Fort  Miller,  on  the  Hudson  River,  where 
they  arrived  at  a  late  hour  in  the  evening. 

"  It  was  here  that  we  first  saw  the  Champlain  canal,  which  communicates 
with  Lake  Champlain  and  Albany.  This  is  one  of  the  vast  undertakings  which 
have  given  New  York  such  a  superiority  in  point  of  enterprise  and  wealth  over 
her  sister  States.  By  means  of  this,  the  immense  expenses  of  teaming  formerly 
incurred  in  carrying  the  productions  of  the  northern  part  of  the  State  to  the 
southern  marts  have  been  avoided.  It  is,  as  it  were,  a  new  road  to  wealth. 
Yet  it  was  astonishing  to  see  how  some  of  the  people  were  prejudiced  against 
it.  .  .  .  Every  great  undertaking  always  finds  opponents;  and  the  New 
York  canals  are  not  free  from  this  common  lot.  The  perseverance  displayed 
by  Clinton,  in  the  planning  and  making  these  canals,  cannot  be  too  much 
admired.  .  .  .  After  all  the  opposition  he  met  with,  he  at  length  succeeded, 
and  he  has  left  behind  him  a  more  durable  monument  than  a  sculptured  bust 
or  marble  tomb,  —  the  gratitude  of  his  country.  No  one  in  the  most  distant 
ages  could  look  upon  these  canals  without  calling  to  his  remembrance  the 
name  of  their  designer  and  executor.  Alexander  wished  for  a  Homer  to 
celebrate  his  actions.  Clinton  will  need  none;  his  works  will  speak  for 
themselves."  1 

The  next  day  (23d)  they  walked  to  Fort  Edward  and  Sandy 
Hill,  —  "  rightly  so  called,"  —  going  over  localities  associated 
with  the  ill-fated  Jane  McCrea,  resting  at  Fort  Ann,  and  arrived 
at  Whitehall,  "the  southern  extremity  of  Lake  Champlain," 
after  a  day's  journey  of  thirty-one  miles,  and  tiresome  travelling 
through  a  hilly  and  rough  country.  kt  Whitehall  is  by  far  the 
most  business-like  place  we  have  seen  since  we  left  Boston.  Most 
of  the  houses  are  built  of  brick  or  stone,  which  gives  it  mucli 
of  a  city-like  appearance.  Besides,  the  continual  passing  and 
repassing  of  the  canal-boats  adds  to  the  bustle.  We  can  also 
discern  the  masts  of  vessels  lying  at  the  wharves.  The  situa- 
tion at  the  foot  of  the  lake  made  it  a  good  place  for  embarkation 
of  troops  destined  for  Canada.  This  advantage  of  situation 
however,  it  is  hoped  will  no  longer  be  valuable  for  that  pur- 
pose, but  rather  for  the  cultivation  of  the  mild  arts  of  peace, 
for  the  advancement  of  trade,  and  the  means  it  affords  for  a 

1  Boston  Tatriot  and  Mercantile  Advertiser,  Dec.  3,  1829. 

VY»T         T  <» 


G6  MEMOIR  OF  CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1826-30. 

quick  and  easy  communication  between  the  Canadas  and  the 
United  States."  At  this  point,  the  plan  of  the  travellers  was  to 
take  the  steamer  for  Ticonderoga.  The  next  morning  (24th), 
as  the  steamer  "  Congress  "  was  not  to  leave  till  one  in  the  after- 
noon, they  indulged  in  a  sleep  longer  than  usual ;  "  it  being  the 
first  time  that  we  have  not  risen  before,  or  at  least  with,  the 
sun  since  we  started."  "  Our  pedestrian  journey,  most  probably, 
with  the  exception  of  some  few  miles,  ends  at  this  place.  It  is 
now  nine  days  since  we  left  home,  and  in  that  time  we  have 
travelled  between  two  and  three  hundred  miles  on  foot."  Ar- 
riving by  the  steamer  at  a  landing  on  the  Vermont  side  of  the 
lake,  and  being  ferried  across  to  a  place  a  mile  above  Fort  Ticon- 
deroga, they  inspected  the  remains  of  the  fortifications.  "  Ticon- 
deroga is  now  in  ruins ;  but  there  are  still  sufficient  remains  to 
convince  us  of  its  former  strength.  Situated  as  it  is  on  a  prom- 
ontory, it  has  complete  command  over  that  part  of  the  lake  ;  and, 
were  it  not  for  Mt.  Defiance,  which  overlooks  it,  would  rightly 
be  deemed  impregnable.  The  sides  toward  the  water  are  of 
massive  rock,  partly  the  work  of  Nature  and  partly  of  art.  In 
fact,  the  whole  fortress  is  built  upon  a  rock.  The  walls  of  the 
buildings  connected  with  the  fort  still  remain,  and  present  quite 
a  castellated  appearance.  There  are  also  several  cellars  and 
magazines  under  ground.  The  form  of  the  fort  we  could  not 
distinctly  discern,  as  several  parts  of  it  were  entirely  wanting. 
Its  great  extent,  however,  was  very  evident." 

Thence  they  walked  about  three  miles  to  the  hotel  at  the  foot 
of  Lake  George,  and  visited  both  the  Lower  and  the  Greater 
Falls.  The  last  "  were  a  most  splendid  sight.  The  water  came 
dashing  over  the  rocks  in  a  complete  foam,  and  making  a  roaring 
noise.  From  this  I  can  have  a  pretty  good  idea  of  a  cataract." 
The  next  day  (25th),  Sumner  alone  ascended  Mt.  Defiance,  to 
obtain  a  view  of  the  fortress  beneath.  The  adventure  cost  him  a 
severe  effort.  He  wondered  how  field-pieces  were  ever  carried  up 
its  sides  to  surprise  General  St.  Clair.  He  was  unable  to  trace  the 
British  works  on  the  summit ;  but  enjoyed  the  fine  view.  The 
two  classmates  embarked  at  one  in  the  afternoon.  "  The  scenery 
all  the  way  through  Lake  George  was  most  beautiful,  and  the 
number  of  islands  with  which  the  water  was  interspersed  very 
much  heightened  it."  Arriving  at  Caldwell  at  six  in  the  even- 
ing, they  at  once  walked  to  Glen's  Falls,  seeing,  on  their  way, 
the  remains  of  the  forts  William   Henry  and  George;  "pass- 


JEt.  15-19.]  BATTLE-FIELDS.  (37 

ing  over  a  level  plain,  frequently  the  battle-field  of  contending 
armies,  .and  the  scene  of  the  alternate  triumphs  of  the  English 
and  French ; "  skirting  "  Bloody  Pond,  the  place  where  the 
dead  bodies  of  all  who  were  slain  in  the  battle  between  Di- 
eskau  and  Williams  were  buried,"  and  lodging  at  "  a  country 
tavern,  situated  almost  immediately  upon  one  of  the  battle-fields, 
under  a  hill,  which  we  were  told  was  called  French  Hill  from 
the  circumstance  of  the  French  being  posted  there."  The  next 
morning  (26th)  they  rose  before  four,  and  walked  over  ground 
they  had  in  part  traversed  on  their  way  up,  going  by  Glen's  Falls 
to  Sandy  Hill,  where  they  attended  the  Presbyterian  Church  in 
the  forenoon.  Resuming  in  the  afternoon  their  journey,  they 
pressed  on  to  Schuylerville,  fifteen  miles  distant,  and  "  stopped 
under  the  very  tree  to  which  Miss  McCrea  was  tied  when  she 
was  shot,"  and  drank  from  the  neighboring  spring.  Thence  they 
passed  through  the  village  of  Fort  Edward,  finishing  the  day's 
journey  (Babcock  being  lame)  with  a  pleasant  ride  on  a  canal- 
boat.  The  next  morning  (27th)  they  left  Schuylerville,  where 
they  had  lodged  at  a  hotel  opposite  Fort  Hardy.  Babcock  went 
directly  to  Saratoga  Springs ;  but  Sumner,  persevering  in  sight- 
seeing, repaired  alone  to  the  scenes  of  Burgoyne's  retreat  and 
surrender,  and  visited  the  fort,  the  battle-field,  the  house  occu- 
pied by  Burgoyne  as  head-quarters,  the  room  where  Frazier  died, 
and  the  place  where  he  was  reputed  to  have  been  buried.  Thence, 
in  the  heat  of  the  day,  he  walked  to  the  Springs,  where,  joining 
Babcock,  he  took  lodgings  at  Montgomery  Hall,  instead  of  Con- 
gress Hall,  which  was  then  chief  among  the  hotels.  The  next 
morning  (28th),  he  subscribed  for  a  day  at  the  Reading  Room. 
Leaving  Saratoga  on  the  29th,  at  four  in  the  morning,  they 
walked  to  Ballston,  where  Babcock  took  the  stage  for  Schenec- 
tady, on  his  way  to  Utica.  Sumner,  now  left  alone,  still  per- 
severed, "  arriving  at  the  Erie  Canal,  about  two  o'clock,  just  at 
the  famous  aqueduct  over  the  Mohawk ; "  thence  walking  on  the 
tow-path,  passing  Cohoes  Falls,  numerous  locks,  and  the  junction 
of  the  Erie  and  Champlain  Canals,  and  reaching  Troy  about 
six  P.  M.,  and  (still  following  the  canal)  Albany  about  sundown, 
—  making  thirty -seven  miles  on  foot  during  the  day.  Lodging 
for  the  night  at  the  Eagle  Tavern,  the  next  morning  (30th)  he 
took  a  view  quite  early  of  the  State  House,  "  a  building  far  infe- 
rior to  our  Massachusetts  one,  and  in  my  opinion  unworthy  of  so 
great  a  State  as  New  York ;  "  observing  also  the  great  number 


68  MEMOIR  OF   CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1826-30. 

of  spires  in  the  city,  and  "  the  vast  number  of  canal  and  steam- 
boats." At  seven  A.  M.  he  left  by  the  steamboat,  and  was  landed 
at  Catskill  in  three  hours.  The  rain  and  bad  condition  of  the 
road  prevented  a  walk  to  the  mountain,  and  in  the  afternoon  he 
took  the  stage,  —  the  first  time  he  had  travelled  on  a  coach  since 
he  left  home,  —  and  arrived  after  dark  at  the  Catskill  House, — 
the  passengers  all  walking  for  the -last  three  miles,  and  reaching 
an  elevation  "  about  three  thousand  feet  above  the  level  of  the 
Hudson."  The  next  morning  (31st)  he  "  arose  before  sunrise, 
in  order  to  have  a  view  from  such  a  height."  The  prospect  was 
soon  overclouded,  and  a  storm  set  in.  Disappointed,  he  took  the 
coach,  which  ran  in  connection  with  the  boat.  "  My  excursion 
to  the  mountain  has  been  almost  entirely  fruitless.  Of  the  two 
great  objects  of  coming,  —  the  prospects  and  the  falls,  —  the 
former  I  saw  very  little  of,  and  of  the  latter  nothing.  So  that 
all  I  have  gained  is  to  say  I  have  been  on  the  Catskill  Moun- 
tain, and  seen  the  clouds  at  my  feet."  Taking  the  steamer  at 
ten  A.  M.,  he  arrived  in  four  hours  at  West  Point,  —  a  distance 
of  seventy  or  eighty  miles.  "  The  scenery  before  reaching  West 
Point  is  sublime,  consisting  of  rough  cliffs  and  mountains." 
Here  he  presented  to  Colonel  Sylvanus  Thayer,  then  command- 
ing at  this  military  station  and  academy,  his  father's  letter  of 
introduction.  This  letter,  dated  July  14,  1829,  contains  the 
following :  — 

"  About  twenty  years  ago,  it  was  my  happiness  to  have  some  conversation 
with  you  in  Boston.  ...  I  am  desirous  that  my  son,  Charles  Sumner,  the 
bearer  of  this,  should  have  the  honor  of  touching  your  hand.  His  own 
reading  and  my  conversation  have  taught  him  to  respect  you.  He  is  about 
to  commence  a  pedestrian  tour  from  Boston  to  the  Springs,  to  view  the  battle- 
grounds of  Bennington  and  Saratoga,  and  on  his  way  home  by  the  steamboat 
to  touch  at  West  Point.  He  is  a  student  at  Harvard  College,  and  sets  out 
with  two  of  his  classmates,  one  of  whom,  Mr.  Frost,  will  probably  accompany 
him  to  West  Point.  I  request  you,  if  convenient  and  consistent  with  your 
regulations,  to  let  these  young  men  have  a  foothold  on  your  ground  during 
the  few  hours  they  may  be  inclined  to  stay.  It  was  once  my  son's  wish  to 
become  a  member  of  your  institution ;  but  I  perceived  it  to  be  a  hopeless 
undertaking  to  procure  his  admission,  and  he  must  now  content  himself  with 
barely  taking  a  transient  view  of  that  of  which  he  once  had  a  desire  to 
make  a  part.  He  is  now  a  tall  stripling,  somewhat  deficient  in  strength  and 
consistency.  Had  he  been  under  your  orders  for  the  three  years  past  that  he 
has  spent  under  merely  literary  men,  he  would,  perhaps,  now  have  been  as 
strong  as  a  soldier  of  Bonaparte  on  the  bridge  of  Lodi." 


JEt.  15-19.]  TRAITS  AS  A  YOUNG  TRAVELLER.  69 

The  journal  says  :  — 

u  I  visited  Colonel  Thayer,  and  presented  the  letter  I  had  to  him.  He 
received  me  very  kindly,  showed  me  the  rooms  of  his  house,  which  were  very 
neatly  furnished,  and  also  his  library,  and  presented  me  with  a  map  of  West 
Point.  I  left  him  for  a  little  while,  and  visited  the  ruins  of  Fort  Putnam,  — 
that  impregnable  fortress.  There  are  a  number  of  the  old  cells  still  remain- 
ing, and  also  loop-holes  for  the  musketry.  It  is  to  my  eye  the  strongest  of 
any  of  the  fortresses  I  have  visited.  On  my  return,  Colonel  Thayer  conducted 
me  around,  showed  me  the  library  and  the  drawing-room,  and  then  invited 
me  home  to  drink  tea.  This  I  accepted.  We  talked  about  Arnold  and  about 
fortifications,  and  particularly  those  round  Boston.  He  explained  to  me  the 
meaning  of  defilading.  About  seven,  I  left  him  in  order  to  view  the  parade, 
and  then  immediately  to  take  the  boat  for  New  York,  which  was  expected 
shortly  to  arrive.  The  parade  was  the  finest  military  show,  without  excep- 
tion, I  ever  beheld.  The  extreme  nicety  and  regularity  of  the  movements 
was  astonishing.  Every  hand  moved  at  the  same  moment,  and  every  arm 
made  the  same  angle." 

Here  the  preserved  sheets  of  the  journal  end.  There  were 
probably  others  which  were  mislaid.  It  is  only  known  further 
that  at  New  York  he  visited,  at  his  father's  request,  the  grave 
of  Major  Job  Sumner,  in  St.  Paul's  Churchyard,  and  wrote  a 
description  and  drew  a  sketch  of  the  memorial  stone. 

The  notes  of  this  excursion  on  foot  show  how  simple  were 
Sumner's  tastes  and  mode  of  living  in  his  early  life.  He  enjoyed 
the  primitive  fare  of  the  farm-house  and  of  the  obscure  inn.  He 
made  no  complaint  of  his  food  or  of  the  hardships  of  a  traveller 
on  foot. 

He  observed  every  thing  as  he  went,  —  farms,  fences,  crops, 
style  of  buildings,  landscapes,  canals,  and  trade.  But  his  jour- 
nal was  the  fullest  and  his  interest  the  greatest  when  he  visited 
places  which  were  associated  with  events,  whether  purely  local 
or  connected  with  Indian  hostilities,  the  Revolutionary  period, 
or  the  earlier  wars  of  France  and  England.  He  sought  these 
with  enthusiasm,  carefully  studied  their  topography,  and  re- 
called, in  connection  with  them,  all  that  tradition  and  history 
had  narrated.  One  sees  even  in  these  early  adventures  the  same 
ardor  with  which,  nine  years  later,  he  trod  scenes  memorable  in 
the  world's  history. 

His  perseverance  was  also  thus  early  tested.  His  companions, 
wearied  with  the  toils  of  a  journey  on  foot,  left  him,  one  after 
the  other;  but  he  adhered  to  his  original  plan  until  it  was 
fully  accomplished.     Here,  too,  was  developed  a  characteristic 


70  MEMOIR  OF   CHARLES   SUMNER.  11826-30. 

which  he  always  retained:    what  he  undertook,  he  would  not 
give  up. 

Many  years  after,  he  made  a  public  allusion  to  this  journey. 
At  a  dinner  of  the  Hampshire  County  Agricultural  Society,  at 
Northampton,  Oct.  14,  1862,  he  said,  as  he  began  his  remarks : 1 

"  I  cannot  forget  the  first  time  that  I  looked  upon  this  beautiful  valley, 
where  river,  meadow,  and  hill  contribute'  to  the  charm.  It  was  while  a  youth 
in  college.  With  several  of  my  classmates  I  made  a  pedestrian  excursion 
through  Massachusetts.  Starting  from  Cambridge,  we  passed,  by  way  of 
Sterling  and  Barre,  to  Amherst,  where,  arriving  weary  and  footsore,  we  re- 
freshed ourselves  at  the  evening  prayer  in  the  college  chapel.  From  Amherst 
we  walked  to  Northampton,  and  then,  ascending  Mount  Holyoke,  saw  the 
valley  of  the  Connecticut  spread  out  before  us,  with  river  of  silver  winding 
through  meadows  of  gold.  It  was  a  scene  of  enchantment,  and  time  has 
not  weakened  the  impression  it  made.  From  Northampton  we  walked  to 
Deerfield,  sleeping  near  Bloody  Brook,  and  then  to  Greenfield,  where  we 
turned  off  by  Coleraine  through  dark  woods  and  over  hills  to  Bennington 
in  Vermont.  The  whole  excursion  was  deeply  interesting,  but  no  part 
more  so  than  your  valley.  Since  then  I  have  been  a  traveller  at  home  and 
abroad,  but  I  know  no  similar  scene  of  greater  beauty.  I  have  seen  the 
meadows  of  Lombardy,  and  those  historic  rivers,  the  Rhine  and  the  Arno, 
and  that  stream  of  Charente,  which  Henry  the  Fourth  called  the  most  beauti- 
ful of  France,  —  also  those  Scottish  rivers  so  famous  in  legend  and  song,  and 
the  exquisite  fields  and  sparkling  waters  of  Lower  Austria ;  but  my  youthful 
joy  in  the  landscape  which  I  witnessed  from  the  neighboring  hill-top  has 
never  been  surpassed  in  any  kindred  scene.  Other  places  are  richer  in  the 
associations  of  history;  but  you  have  enough  already  in  what  Nature  has 
done,  without  waiting  for  any  further  illustration." 

i    Works,  Vol.  VII.  p.  249. 


jEt.  19-20.]  YEAR  AFTER  COLLEGE.  71 


CHAPTER  V. 

YEAR  AFTER  COLLEGE.  —  SEPTEMBER,  1830,  TO  SEPTEMBER,  1831.— 

AGE,  19-20. 

SUMNER  left  Cambridge  with  grateful  recollections  of  college 
life.  Revisiting,  as  the  new  academic  year  opened,  the  fa- 
miliar scenes,  he  saw  the  Seniors  taking  possession  of  the  rooms 
which  his  class  had  vacated,  and  described,  in  a  letter  to  Browne, 
the  desolation  of  23  Holworthy.  He  kept  up  his  interest  in  the 
exhibitions,  parts,  prizes,  clubs,  and  personal  incidents  of  the 
college,  and  reported  them  to  the  distant  classmates  with  whom 
he  corresponded.  Harvard  never  sent  forth  a  son  whose  affec- 
tion was  warmer  at  the  parting,  or  endured  more  faithfully  to 
the  end. 

He  passed  the  next  year  at  home,1  without  daily  cares  and 
with  his  time  fully  at  his  command.  He  was  uncertain  what) 
path  of  life  to  pursue,  his  associations  drawing  him  to  the  law  J 
but  as  yet  no  strong  current  of  his  nature  carrying  him  to  a 
decisive  choice.  If  he  were  to  study  law,  he  would  be  content 
only  with  the  best  advantages,  —  those  offered  by  the  Law  School 
at  Cambridge ;  and  he  was  anxious  —  almost  morbidly  so  —  not 
to  subject  his  father  to  any  further  expense  in  his  education. 
But  while  postponing  the  choice  of  a  profession,  he  was  not 
idle.  He  rose  at  quarter-past  five  in  the  morning,  and  retired  at 
midnight,  often  later.  Having  no  private  room  for  the  purpose, 
he  used  as  a  study  one  of  the  parlors,  where  he  was  much  inter- 
rupted by  the  children.  He  took  but  little  exercise,  and  did  not 
go  into  society.  His  readings  were,  in  the  classics,  Tacitus,  Ju- 
venal, Persius  ;  in  poetry  and  general  literature,  Shakspeare  and 
Milton,2  Burton's  "Anatomy  of  Melancholy,"  "The  Correspond- 
ence of  Gilbert  Wakefield  with  Charles  James  Fox,  Chiefly  on 

l  The  family  moved,  in  November,  from  No.  53  (now  63)  Hancock  Street  to  20  Hancock 
Street. 

2  Finished,  Oct.  12. 


72  MEMOIR  OF   CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1830-31. 

Subjects  of  Classical  Literature,"  Moore's  "  Life  of  Byron,"  But- 
ler's "  Reminiscences,"  Hume's  "  Essays;  "and,  in  history,  Hallam, 
Robertson,  and  Roscoe.  He  copied  at  great  length  into  his  com- 
monplace-book—  soon  after  laid  aside  —  the  narrations  and  re- 
flections of  these  historians.  He  read  both  the  '^Lorenzo  de 
Medici "  and  the  "  Leo  X."  of  Roscoe ;  and  on  completing  the 
former,  Oct.  29,  he  wrote  :  — 

"  The  character  of  Lorenzo  de  Medici  appears  to  be  one  of  the  most  esti- 
mable which  history  records.  A  man  with  so  great  an  ambition,  and  yet 
with  one  so  well  controlled  and  directed,  with  so  much  power  in  his  hands 
and  so  little  disposition  to  increase  it  by  any  infringement  of  the  rights  of  his 
countrymen,  with  so  many  temptations  in  his  path,  and  so  firm  and  Hercules- 
like always  in  his  choice;  so  great  a  statesman  and  magistrate,  so  strict  a 
scholar,  and  so  fine  a  poet;  so  great  a  friend  of  the  ingenious,  and  patron  of 
talent  in  every  shape,  —  the  annals  of  no  country  but  Florence  can  show.  In 
him  seemed  to  centre  all  those  talents  which  Heaven  scatters  singly;  and 
these  were  moulded  and  directed  by  a  temper  soft  and  amiable.  He  united 
in  himself  the  almost  diverse  professions  of  a  merchant  and  a  scholar,  super- 
intending at  the  same  time  his  ships  and  his  studies,  and  receiving  in  the 
same  keel  merchandise  and  manuscripts. 

"  '  Advectus  Romam  quo  pruna  et  cottana  vento.' 1 

"  Lorenzo  is  fortunate  in  a  historian  who  is  his  most  ardent  admirer; 
whether  the  truth  has  been  warped  or  concealed  in  any  parts  I  cannot  tell, 
but  Roscoe  surely  presents  us  with  an  elegant  character.  His  work  to  me  is 
not  so  attractive  in  point  of  composition  as  Hume  or  Gibbon.  It  has  not  the 
charming  ease  of  the  former  or  the  commanding  periods  of  the  latter;  but  it 
is  chaste,  ornate,  classical,  rather  deficient  in  spirit  and  in  philosophy,  and 
unsound  in  several  instances  in  the  general  reflections  or  propositions  deduced 
from  particular  cases.     It  is  deficient  in  dates." 

At  this  time  he  set  himself  to  a  study,  always  disagreeable  to 
those  who,  like  him,  have  for  it  no  natural  aptitude.  Mathe- 
matics, to  which,  as  already  stated,  he  gave  very  little  attention 
in  college,  he  now  felt  to  be  a  necessary  part  of  a  complete  edu- 
cation, and  determined  to  overcome  his  deficiencies  in  the  neg- 
lected science.  He  at  once  entered  with  zeal  on  the  study  of 
geometry,  and  found  it  less  difficult  than  before.  From  geometry 
he  passed  to  algebra,  the  abstruseness  of  which  he  was  less  able 
to  overcome.  It  is  seldom  that  a  young  man  to  whom  mathe- 
matics has  been  an  uncongenial  study  returns  to  it  merely  for 
the  purpose  of  supplying  a  defect  in  his  education.  His  class- 
mates were  much  impressed  with  the  resolution  which  he  showed 

i  Juvenal,  Sat.  III.  83. 


Mr.  19-20]  PRIZE  ESSAY  ON   COMMERCE.  73 

in  his  private  studies,  and  particularly  with  his  grappling  with 
the  branch  which  had  annoyed  him  so  much  in  college. 

Frost  wrote,  Sept.  25,  "  Before  closing,  I  cannot  omit  express- 
ing my  strong  approbation  of  the  rigid  discipline  to  which  you 
have  subjected  yourself.  Such  voluntary  sacrifices  in  a  man  of 
your  age  and  circumstances  augur  well  of  his  coming  years.  Per- 
severe ! "  Browne  wrote,  Sept.  28,  "  You  have  begun  well.  Quar- 
ter-past five  in  the  morning  is  auspicious.  Made!  Walker's 
geometry,  with  its  points,  lines,  angles,  &c,  is  a  good  employment 
for  an  adept  in  mathematics,  like  yourself.  .  .  .  Read  your  course 
of  history  by  all  means.  If  you  mean  to  grapple  with  the  law, 
dissect  the  feudal  system.  Your  reading  is  a  fortune."  Stearns 
wrote,  Oct.  8,  "  Hopkinson  tells  me  you  are  all  absorbed  in 
mathematics,  and  are  making  rapid  progress  in  the  study  of  that 
long  neglected  science.  I  am  glad  to  hear  this  news."  Tower 
wrote,  Nov.  1,  recommending  Dibdin's  "  Introduction  to  the 
Greek  and  Latin  Classics,"  and  said,  "  I  should  certainly  think 
it  indispensable  to  every  one  who  loves  the  old  Latin  and  Greek 
writers  and  venerable  tomes  as  you  do,  as  soon  as  he  begins  to 
form  his  library." 

Soon  after  leaving  college,  Sumner  sought  an  ushership  in  the 
Boston  Latin  School,  but  did  not  succeed  in  obtaining  it.  He 
was  pressed  by  Stearns,  then  teaching  an  academy  at  Northfield, 
to  become  his  assistant,  and  afterwards  to  take  the  sole  charge 
of  the  institution ;  the  latter  urging  that,  with  his  attainments 
in  the  classics,  he  would  have  ample  leisure  to  pursue  his  read- 
ing ;  but  he  was  unwilling  to  separate  himself  from  Boston  and 
Cambridge,  and  declined  the  offer.  In  January,  he  taught  for 
three  weeks  at  Brookline,  filling  a  temporary  vacancy  in  the 
school  of  Mr.  L.  V.  Hubbard  (where  his  classmate  McBurney 
was  an  usher),  which  was  kept  in  a  stone  building  modelled  after 
the  Greek  style,  and  is  still  standing  on  Boylston  Street.  This 
brief  experience  as  a  school-teacher,  while  not  attended  with 
any  unpleasant  occurrence,  did  not  give  him  a  taste  for  the 
occupation. 

In  the  latter  part  of  December  he  composed  an  essay  on  com- 
merce, the  subject  of  a  prize,  limited  to  minors,  which  had  been 
offered  by  the  "  Boston  Society  for  the  Diffusion  of  Useful 
Knowledge,"  —  a  society  formed  after  the  example  of  the  fa- 
mous English  association.  Its  president  at  that  time  was  Daniel 
Webster,  and  its  vice-president,  John  Pickering.     The  society 


74  MEMOIR  OF  CHARLES  SUMNER.         [1830-31. 

gave  public  notice  that,  on  April  1,  the  envelope  corresponding 
to  the  manuscript  which  had  been  approved  as  the  best  would 
be  opened  at  the  Athenaeum  Hall.  On  the  evening  appointed, 
at  the  close  of  a  lecture  by  Chief-Justice  Shaw,  Mr.  Webster 
opened  the  envelope  in  presence  of  the  audience,  and  announced 
"Charles  Sumner"  as  the  name  enclosed.  He  requested  Sum- 
ner to  come  forward ;  and,  taking  him  by  the  hand,  called  him 
his  "  young  friend,"  adding  the  remark  that  the  public  held  a 
pledge  of  him,  and  other  kindly  words.  Little  thought  the  great 
orator  that  he  was  greeting  one  who  was  to  succeed  him  in  the 
Senate,  with  a  longer  term  and,  as  time  may  show,  a  more  en- 
during fame  than  his  own.  The  prize  was  given  in  Lieber's 
"  Encyclopaedia  Americana,"  valued  at  thirty  dollars.  The  books 
were  afterwards  sent  to  Sumner,  with  a  note  signed  by  Mr. 
Webster,  certifying  that  they  were  awarded  as  a  premium  for 
the  essay. 

His  classmates  were  greatly  pleased  with  his  success.  Tower 
wrote,  June  5, "  I  rejoice  with  you,  Sumner,  in  your  late  success. 
I  wish  I  could  take  you  by  the  hand,  and  assure  you  by  look  and 
sensibly  how  glad  I  am  for  the  new  honor  you  have  won.  It  is 
a  good  thing ;  and,  I  hope,  only  one  of  many  laurels  which  are  to 
garland  your  life.  I  hope  so,  —  I  know  so  ;  and  not  I  alone.  One 
of  our  friends  has  predicted  high  places  for  Sumner.  Therefore, 
on  !  on  !     Follow  your  spirit." 

Browne  wrote,  in  reference  to  the  prize,  to  Stearns,  April  5 : 

"  I  had  a  letter  from  friend  Charles  on  Saturday.  He  has  stepped  to  the 
pinnacle  of  fame.  Our  friend  outstrips  all  imagination.  He  will  leave  us 
all  behind  him ;  and,  for  my  single  self,  I  care  not  how  far  he  may  leave  me. 
He  is  a  good  man ;  and,  so  far  as  a  mortal  may  speak  with  confidence,  my 
joy  at  his  success  would  be  unalloyed  with  envy.  He  has  been  working  hard 
to  lay  a  foundation  for  the  future.  I  doubt  whether  one  of  his  classmates 
has  filled  up  the  time  since  Commencement  with  more,  and  more  thorough 
labor ;  and  to  keep  him  constant  he  has  a  pervading  ambition,  —  not  an  inter- 
mittent, fitful  gust  of  an  affair,  blowing  a  hurricane  at  one  time,  then  sub- 
siding to  a  calm,  but  a  strong,  steady  breeze,  which  will  bear  him  well  on  in 
the  track  of  honor." 

Sumner  neglected  no  opportunity  to  listen  to  the  best  public 
speakers.  In  September,  he  heard  Josiah  Quincy's  address  in 
the  Old  South  Church,  in  commemoration  of  the  close  of  the 
second  century  from  the  first  settlement  of  Boston.1   He  attended 

1  An  account  of  this  occasion,  with  an  extract  from  the  address,  is  given  in  Mr.  Quincy's 
Life,  pp.  443-448. 


Mt.  10-20.]  HEARING  MR.  WEBSTER.  75 

a  course  of  lectures  given  under  the  auspices  of  the  "  Society 
for  the  Diffusion  of  Useful  Knowledge."  Among  the  lectures,  of 
which  he  wrote  out  full  notes,  were  those  of  Judge  Davis  on 
"  Natural  History,"  James  T.  Austin  on  the  "  History  of  Massa- 
chusetts," and  John  Pierpont  on  "  Useful  Knowledge  the  Ally 
of  Religion." 

The  great  orator  of  the  period,  Daniel  Webster,  was  then  in 
his  prime.  Aspiring  young  men  spared  no  pains  to  obtain  sitting 
or  standing  room  at  political  meetings  and  in  court-rooms  where 
he  was  to  speak.  Sumner,  accompanied  by  Browne,  who  came 
from  Salem  for  the  purpose,  heard  Webster's  tariff  speech,  which 
was  begun  at  Faneuil  Hall,  Oct.  30,  and  concluded  the  next 
(Sunday)  evening  at  Quincy  Hall.  A  few  days  later,  Sumner 
went  to  Salem,  as  Browne's  guest,  and  attended  the  trial  of  Jo- 
seph J.  Knapp,  as  accessory  to  the  murder  of  Stephen  White. 
He  heard  Mr.  Webster's  closing  argument  for  the  government. 
It  was  in  this  address,  which  according  to  the  ^newspapers  of 
the  day  ended  with  "a  peroration  of  surpassing  pathos,"  that 
Mr.  Webster,  alluding  to  the  suggestion  that  the  jury  should 
have  compassion  on  the  prisoner,  said  that  their  compassion 
should  be  for  his  internal,  not  his  external,  condition ;  "  it  is," 
he  added,  "  his  greatest  misfortune  to  be  what  he  is,  not  where 
he  is."     Knapp  was  convicted  and  executed.1 

Rev.  Dr.  Emery,  a  classmate  of  Sumner,  writes :  — 

"  Immediately  after  graduating,  I  opened  a  private  school  in  Beverly; 
and,  while  residing  in  that  town,  the  great  trial  of  Knapp,  as  an  accomplice 
of  Crowninshield  in  the  murder  of  Mr.  White,  took  place  in  Salem.  Mr. 
Franklin  Dexter  and  Mr.  W.  H.  Gardiner  were  Knapp' s  counsel,  and  Webster 
was  on  the  side  of  the  State.  The  trial  attracted  many  from  the  neighboring 
towns,  —  law-students  and  young  lawyers.  Among  them  Sumner  was  pres- 
ent. I  recollect  how  delighted  he  was  with  the  keenness  of  Dexter  in  worm- 
ing the  truth  out  of  witnesses  on  their  cross-examination,  and  especially  in 
summing  up  the  evidence  in  the  prisoner's  behalf.  I  met  him  at  the  trial 
several  times,  and  he  seemed  to  take  as  much  interest  in  it  as  if  he  were  one 
of  the  lawyers.  He  was  not  a  member  of  the  Law  School  at  the  time ;  and  I 
could  not  help  thinking  that,  if  he  had  not  decided  what  profession  to  study, 
the  dignity  and  even  solemnity  of  that  trial,  conducted  by  the  ablest  counsel 
to  be  found,  must  have  decided  him  to  study  law." 

1  The  points  contested  at  this  trial  between  Franklin  Dexter,  the  defendant's  counsel, 
and  Mr.  Webster  are  given  in  Commonwealth  v.  Knapp,  10  Pickering's  Reports,  p.  477. 
The  celebrated  argument  of  Mr.  Webster  on  the  earlier  trial  of  John  F.  Knapp  as  principal 
is  printed  in  his  Works,  Vol.  II.  pp.  41-105.  See  Curtie's  "  Life  of  Webster,"  Vol.  I. 
pp.  378-385. 


76  MEMOIR  OF  CHARLES  SUMNER.         [1830-81. 

Soon  after  leaving  college,  Sumner  became  warmly  interested 
in  the  Anti-masonic  movement,  then  at  its  height.1  He  resented 
the  annoyances  and  unfriendly  criticisms  to  which  his  father  had 
been  subjected  on  account  of  his  participation  in  this  controversy. 
He  was  a  diligent  reader  of  the  newspapers  and  pamphlets  on 
the  subject,  with  which  the  period  abounded,  particularly  of  Mr. 
Hallett's  "  Free  Press,"  which ,  he  frequently  posted  to  his 
friends.  He  is  supposed  to  have  contributed  articles  to  this 
newspaper,  and  even  to  have  had  charge  of  it  for  a  short  time, 
during  the  editor's  absence.  He  was  an  admirer  of  eminent 
Anti-masons,  like  Richard  Rush  and  William  Wirt,  the  latter  of 
whom  he  hoped  to  see  elected  President  at  the  next  election,  of 
1832.  He  pressed  "  the  great  and  good  cause  "  of  Anti-masonry, 
as  he  called  it,  on  his  favorite  classmates,  Browne,  Hopkinson,2 
Tower,  Stearns,  and  Frost ;  but,  while  they  were  not  partisans  of 
the  Order,  they  did  not  sympathize  with  his  ardent  support  of  its 
political  opponents.  When  he  portrayed  in  his  letters  the  dan- 
gers which  the  Order  threatened  to  liberty  and  the  administration 
of  justice,  they  quite  coolly  reproved  what  they  regarded  as  an 
intense  and  exaggerated  view.  Browne,  who  always  dealt  very 
plainly  with  him,  rallied  him  for  his  "  knight-errantry."  Sumner 
himself,  as  the  season  of  professional  study  drew  near,  was  per- 
suaded that  he  had  allowed  the  exciting  topic  to  occupy  his 
thoughts  more  than  would  be  consistent  with  the  student's  work 
which  was  to  be  his  first  duty ;  and,  while  not  appearing  to  un- 
dergo any  change  of  opinion,  abstained  from  any  further  partici- 
pation in  the  controversy.  Perhaps  the  direction  then  given  to 
his  mind  led  him  afterwards  to  favor  publicity  in  the  proceedings 
of  the  Phi  Beta  Kappa  Society,  and  the  discontinuance  of  the 
secret  sessions  of  the  United  States  Senate.  "  The  genius  of  our 
institutions,"  he  said  in  the  Senate,  "  requires  publicity.  The 
ancient  Roman,  who  bade  his  architect  so  to  construct  his  house 
that  his  guests  and  all  that  he  did  could  be  seen  by  the  world,  is 
a  fit  model  for  the  American  people."  3 

1  Browne  wrote  to  Stearns,  May  23, 1831.  "  Sumner  feels  unutterably  on  the  subject,  and 
he  is  pricked  on  by  the  wrongs  done  his  father  by  Masons.  His  resentment  is  worthy  of 
all  commendation.  I  wish  it  had  exploded  in  a  different  waj'."  And  again,  July  12: 
"  He  holds  to  it  [Anti-masonry]  as  to  the  ark  of  the  nation's  safety.  I  saw  him  in  Boston 
last  month,  very  well  in  body,  low  in  spirits." 

2  Hopkinson  wrote,  May  10,  "  Leave  off  reading  newspapers,  and  forget  politics  till  you 
are  thirty ;  by  so  doing  you  may  redeem  the  pledge  which  Webster  says  '  the  public  hold 
of  you.'  " 

8  Speech  in  the  Senate,  April  6,  1853     Works,  Vol.  III.  pp.  212-214. 


Mr.  19-20.]        CORRESPONDENCE   WITH   CLASSMATES.  77 

Sumner  and  the  classmates  with  whom  he  had  been  intimate 
kept  up  their  interest  in  each  other.  Gifts  of  books  were  inter- 
changed. He  gave  a  Byron  to  Browne,  and  a  Milton  to  Hop- 
kinson ;  and  received  from  Browne  Sterne's  "  Sentimental 
Journey,"  and  from  Hopkinson  a  polyglot  Bible.1  Having  access 
to  bookstores  and  libraries,  he  was  often  the  agent  of  his  class- 
mates in  borrowing  and  purchasing  books.  He  maintained  a 
frequent  correspondence  with  Browne,  who  was  studying  law 
with  Rufus  Choate  at  Salem :  with  Hopkinson,  who  was  first 
a  tutor  at  Cambridge  and  then  a  law-student  at  Groton ;  with 
Tower,  who  was  teaching  school  at  Waterville,  N.  Y.,  and  after- 
wards studying  law  with  Hermanus  Bleecker,  in  Albany ;  and 
with  Stearns  and  Frost,  —  who  were  teaching,  the  former  at 
Northfield,  and  the  latter  at  Framingham.  The  letters  which 
they  wrote  to  him  are  familiar  and  affectionate,  usually  address- 
ing him  by  his  Christian  name,  and  most  of  them  quite  extended. 
Of  these  he  kept  during  his  life  more  than  fifty,  written  from 
Sept.,  1830,  to  Sept.,  1831. 

Once  a  week,  or  oftener,  he  sent  long  letters  to  Browne.2 
Browne  was  fearless  in  his  treatment  of  received  opinions,  but 
his  radical  notions  were  under  the  control  of  good  sense.  The 
two  friends  discussed  political  topics,  like  Masonry,  and  the 
public  men  of  the  day;  literary  themes,  like  the  characters  of 
Shakspeare,  Milton's  poetry,  and  Moore's  "Biography  of  By- 
ron ;  "  Hallam's  "  History  of  the  Middle  Ages,"  and  the  his- 
torical characters  of  Francis  I.  and  Charles  V.  They  criticised 
for  mutual  improvement  each  other's  style  of  writing  so  plainly 
and  unreservedly,  that  only  their  assured  confidence  in  each 
other's  sincerity  and  friendliness  prevented  their  keen  words 
from  leaving  a  sting  behind.  Sumner  thought  Browne's  style 
"  Byronic,"  and  invited  a  criticism  of  his  own.  Browne,  while 
appreciating  Sumner's  as  one  which  "  every  man  not  a  critic 
and  many  who  are  would  be  delighted  with,"  and  as  "  flowing 
smoothly,  rapidly,  clearly,  and  full  of  bright  images,"  objected 
to  it  as  "  too  ornate  and  embellished,  too  exuberant,  and  too 
full  of  figures  and  figurative  language ;  and,  while  correct  and 
not  violating  the  proprieties  of  nature,  as  wanting  generally  in 

1  Sumner  gave  his  classmate  Kerr,  in  their  Senior  year  in  college,  the  "Apothegms  of 
Paulus  Manutius,"  an  edition  printed  in  Venice  in  1583. 

2  Of  the  letters  to  Browne  and  Hopkinson,  the  two  classmates  to  whom  he  wrote  most 
confidentially,  none  exist;  hut  the  letters  written  to  him  at  that  period  were  carefully  pre* 
served  by  him. 


78  MEMOIR  OF  CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1830-31. 

simplicity  and  directness."  He  wrote,  March  6,  "  Either  send 
me  a  Lempriere,  or  be  less  lavish  of  your  classical  allusions; 
for  so  thickly  was  your  epistle,  especially  the  first  page,  bediz- 
ened with  gems,  that  my  mineralogy  was  all  at  fault.  I  could 
neither  measure  nor  sort  them."  Three  weeks  later,  he  wrote, 
"  Your  last  letter  was  full  of  bone  and  muscle  and  figures,  —  of 
the  last  an  excess,  though  invariably  bold  and  strong,  remarkably 
and  unusually  so.  I  am  right  glad  to  see  this  improvement  in 
your  style.  It  was  a  desideratum ;  almost  the  only  one.  Made 
nova  virtute  !  " 

Sumner's  letters  to  Tower  and  Stearns,  which  are  preserved, 
are  playful,  abound  in  Latin  phrases  and  other  quotations,  and 
are  rather  carelessly  written.  Neither  in  thought  nor  in  style 
are  they  superior  to  the  similar  compositions  of  most  young  men 
of  his  age  and  education. 

As  the  summer  of  1831  waned,  Sumner  felt  seriously  that  he 
must,  without  delay,  begin  in  earnest  the  study  of  a  profession, 
or  take  up  some  occupation  which  would  be  at  once  remunerative. 
He  was  very  reluctant  to  draw  any  further  on  his  father,  who  had 
now  to  provide  for  the  education  of  younger  sons  and  daughters. 
He  questioned,  too,  his  chances  of  success  in  the  legal  profession, 
or  at  least  of  attaining  his  ideal  in  it.  His  thoughts  turned  to 
school-keeping  for  a  time,  as  assuring  immediate  revenues ;  but  a 
teacher's  duties  did  not  attract  him.  He  was  troubled  in  spirit, 
even  unhappy ;  and  he  opened  his  heart  frankly  to  Hopkinson, 
—  a  young  man  of  mature  reflection  and  six  years  his  senior. 
The  classmate  replied  at  length,  reviewing  Sumner's  difficulties, 
which  he  thought  exaggerated,  and  mingling  gentle  reproof  with 
good  counsel.  The  father,  he  thought,  with  his  improved  for- 
tunes, could  not  spend  money  better  than  in  educating  a  son  of 
promise  ;  and  he  added,  "  If,  then,  you  really  wish  to  go  on 
immediately  with  the  profession,  there  is  no  lion  in  the  way. 
You  may  do  it  with  strong  grounds  to  hope  for  success,  and 
with  a  clear  conscience  and  cheerful  heart."  Sumner  feared 
that  an  engagement  as  teacher  for  a  few  years  would  consume 
time  which  ought  to  be  appropriated  to  preparation  for  his 
life-work,  whatever  that  was  to  be ;  but  his  classmate  thought 
well  of  such  a  temporary  experience,  as  it  would  occupy  his 
mind,  promote  cheerfulness,  and  give  him  a  knowledge  of  the 
world,  which,  with  his  too  great  seclusion,  he  much  needed  ; 
and  besides  it  would  not  conflict  with  his  admission  to  the  bar 


Mt.  19-20.]  CHOICE   OF  A  PROFESSION.  7(J 

at  as  early  a  period  as  was  desirable.  "  You  would,"  lie  said, 
"then  come'  to  the  sturdy  science  with  nerves  and  muscles 
hardened  for  the  combat,  and  with  a  mind  better  stored  than 
that  of  any  of  your  class."  Hopkinson  rebuked  Sumner's  appre- 
hension of  failure  in  life,  his  indecision,  his  chosen  abstinence 
from  society,  which  had  brought  on  an  unhealthy  gloominess 
of  mind,  and  his  too  absorbing  contemplation  of  extraordinary 
characters  in  history,  which  are  not,  except  in  rare  instances, 
attainable  ideals.  "  That  vague  ambition  which  looks  at  ends 
and  overlooks  means  is  the  cause  of  half  your  troubles,  and  is 
caused  by  your  overmuch  reading  and  ignorance  of  men.  Your 
thoughts  have  conversed  only  with  kings,  generals,  and  poets. 
Come  down  to  this  tame  world  and  this  tame  reality  of  things." 
Hopkinson  thus  closed  this  thoughtful  letter,  which  must  have 
affected  Sumner's  immediate  purpose,  and  probably  his  whole 
future :  "  Be  assured  of  my  high  regard,  of  my  high  opinion  of 
your  talents ;  and  if  you  do  not  make  a  strong  man  of  yourself, 
on  you  rests  the  sin  of  throwing  away  talents  and  education 
which  I  might  envy,  and  which  might  make  your  name  familiar 
in  men's  mouths.  The  following  passage  I  transcribe  from  a 
letter  of  our  Salem  friend  [Browne].  You  know  he  does  not 
calculate  highly  on  puny  geniuses.  Speaking  of  your  prize  lately 
obtained,  he  writes :  4  Charles  looms  in  the  world.  We  glory  in 
his  present  success.  May  we  not  assuredly  hope  that  it  is  but 
the  beginning  of  the  end  ? '  This  I  send  because  the  circum- 
stances are  a  warranty  of  his  sincerity.  Had  he  said  as  much 
of  me,  I  should  have  respected  myself  the  more  for  it." 

Among  other  expressions  of  interest  in  his  career  which  belong 
to  this  transition  period  of  life  are  the  following :  Browne  wrote, 
July  26,  "  Do  you  go  to  Cambridge  next  year?  You  have  put 
your  hand  to  the  plow,  you  have  even  broken  ground,  and  now 
look  back.  There  is  no  going  back,  and  you  have  duty  and  all 
hope  to  draw  you  forward."  And,  a  few  weeks  later,  he  wrote : 
"  Did  you  ever  read  Dean  Swift's  life  ?  If  you  have  not,  —  but 
you  have :  you  have  read  every  thing.  Have  you  brought  your 
Law-School  resolution  to  a  focus,  and  made  preparation  for  next 
year  in  any  way  ?  "  Stearns  wrote,  Aug.  3,  "  What  are  your 
plans  for  the  coming  year  ?  I  hope  you  mean  to  grapple  with 
the  law.  That  is  the  profession  you  are  made  for,  and  the  sooner 
you  prepare  for  it  the  better." 

After  a  considerable  period  of  perplexity  and  indecision,  Sum- 


80  MEMOIR  OF  CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1830-31. 

ner  chose  the  law.  He  made  the  choice  without  enthusiasm ; 
but,  when  once  made,  he  formed  a  plan  of  severe  and  compre- 
hensive study,  which  he  pursued  with  patience  and  enthusiasm. 
The  question  of  a  profession  being  determined,  he  was  vexed 
with  no  hesitation  as  to  the  place  where  he  should  prepare  him- 
self for  its  duties,  but  was  drawn  irresistibly  to  Cambridge,  where 
he  had  passed  four  happy  years. 

This  year  at  home,  intervening  between  College  and  Law 
School,  Sumner  himself  did  not,  at  its  close,  regard  as  profitably 
spent.  It  began  with  the  study  of  mathematics,  which  does  not 
seem  to  have  been  kept  up  more  than  five  months.  He  read 
much,  but  in  a  desultory  way.  What  he  wrote  was  wanting  in 
careful  reflection  and  finish  of  style.  His  mind,  as  he  saw  the 
year  in  retrospect,  had  been  prematurely  agitated  with  political 
strifes  which  were  not  likely  to  be  of  permanent  interest.  Man- 
hood had  now  come  with  its  work  and  duties,  and  he  entered 
upon  it  in  a  serious  and  resolute  spirit. 


LETTERS   TO   CLASSMATES. 


TO  CHARLEMAGNE  TOWER,  WATERVILLE,  N.Y. 

Boston,  Sept.  27,  1830. 
Scene.  —  Fourth-story,  House  53  Hancock  Street,  half -past  ten  in  the  evening. 

My  Friend, — 

"Truditur  dies  die, 
Novaeque  pergunt  interire  Lunae."1 

Yes,  a  month  has  now  passed  since  we  bade  adieu  to  college  pleasures  and 
labors ;  and,  if  I  mistake  not,  just  a  month  since  I  last  saw  you  in  Hol- 
worthy,  4.  You  and  I,  I  believe,  had  some  sympathies  with  one  another  on 
departure ;  we  both  of  us  looked  upon  Cambridge  with  rather  warmer  feel- 
ings than  most,  and  dreaded  to  sunder  ourselves  from  so  many  kindly  asso- 
ciations. One  month  "  hath  not  a  whit  altered  me;  "  my  mind  is  still  full  of 
those  feelings  of  affection  which  bound  me  to  the  place  and  the  friends  I  there 
enjoyed.  I  find  it  hard  to  untie  the  spell  that  knits  me  so  strongly  to  college 
life.  I  never  had  a  more  melancholy  time  in  my  life  than  for  the  four  hours 
after  I  last  saw  you.  I  went  to  my  room,  and  found  it  usurped  by  a  "  new 
race,"  and  my  furniture  on  the  road  to  Boston.  Like  Noah's  dove,  then, 
with  nowhere  to  rest  the  sole  of  my  foot,  I  went  from  room  to  room,  and  saw 

1  Horace,  Ode  II.  xviii.  15,  16. 


JEt.  19-20.1  REVIEW  OF  MATHEMATICS.  81 

everywhere  the  signs  of  approaching  departure.  Juniors  were  parading 
round,  the  almost  "undisputed  lords  and  masters  "  of  what  we  Seniors  a 
day  before  alone  enjoyed.     Excuse  this  sentimentality. 

Two  days  after  you  had  read  your  dissertation,  the  fame  whereof  was  in 
the  land  when  I  arrived,  I  underwent  the  most  unwelcome  drudgery  of  read- 
ing mine,  —  namely,  of  going  through  the  form,  —  in  order  to  satisfy  the 
requisitions  of  the  will.  Be  assured  it  was  only  a  form.  I  did  not  read  in  all 
more  than  a  third,  and  that  I  cantered  through  as  fast  as  my  tongue  (natu- 
rally a  "  fast  goer")  could  carry  me.  I  did  not  read  along  in  course  $  but 
took  shreds  and  patches  from  one  page  and  another  through  the  whole  forty- 
five.  How  absurd  to  make  us  thus  murder  our  own  children !  The  whole 
dissertation  ought  to  be  read,  for  it  cannot  be  properly  judged  except  as  a 
whole.  The  pedant  of  olden  times,  who  offered  a  brick  as  a  specimen  of  a 
house  he  had  for  sale,  acted  about  as  wisely  as  the  Faculty  in  this  particular, 
thus  forcing  us  to  slice  off  a  few  bits  and  offer  them  as  the  successful  Bow- 
doin  dissertations.  .  .  .  Just  a  week  ago  yesterday,  I  commenced  Walker's 
Geometry,  and  have  now  got  nearly  half  through.  All  those  problems,  theo- 
rems, &c,  which  were  such  stumbling-blocks  to  my  Freshman-year  career, 
unfold  themselves  as  easily  as  possible  now.  You  would  sooner  have  thought, 
I  suppose,  that  fire  and  water  would  have  embraced  than  mathematics  and 
myself;  but,  strange  to  tell,  we  are  close  friends  now.  I  really  get  geometry 
with  some  pleasure.  I  usually  devote  four  hours  in  the  forenoon  to  it.  I 
have  determined  not  to  study  any  profession  this  year,  and  I  have  marked 
out  to  myself  a  course  of  study  which  will  fully  occupy  my  time, — namely, 
a  course  of  mathematics,  Juvenal,  Tacitus,  a  course  of  modern  history,  Hal- 
lam's  "  Middle  Ages  "  and  "  Constitutional  History,"  Roscoe's  "  Leo"  and 
"Lorenzo,"  and  Robertson's  "Charles  V.;"  with  indefinite  quantities  of 
Shakspeare,  Burton,  British  poets,  &c,  and  writing  an  infinite  number  of 
long  letters.  I  have  doomed  myself  to  hard  labor,  and  I  shall  try  to  look 
upon  labor  as  some  great  lawyer  did,  as  pleasure,  —  "Labor  ipse  volup- 
tas."  And  the  gratification  from  labor  is,  indeed,  the  surest  and  most 
steadfast  pleasure.  .  .  .  President  Quincy  has  been  completely  successful; 
has  done  himself,  the  city,  the  State,  honor.1  Webster,  I  understood,  said 
it  was  the  best  discourse  he  ever  heard  from  a  pulpit  in  his  life.  It 
was  two  hours  long;  the  whole  of  this  time  he  held  the  attention  of  a 
most  numerous  audience,  among  whom  was  myself,  squeezed  and  pushed 
round  amidst  the  crowd  of  groundlings  in  one  of  the  aisles,  standing  up 
during  all  the  two  performances,  about  three  hours.  The  first  part  of 
Quincy's  oration,  I  thought,  was  not  well  digested;  but  he  grew  better 
and  better  the  more  he  got  heated  with  his  subject,  and  held  the  attention 
of  the  audience  better  the  last  hour  than  he  did  the  first.  His  vindication  of 
the  bigotry  and  intolerance  of  our  ancestors  was  the  best  I  ever  heard,  and 
was  too  good  for  them.  His  delivery,  also,  was  fine,  —  full,  loud,  energetic, 
frequently  eloquent.  Sprague's  poem  was  beautiful;  its  most  prominent 
parts  were   on  the  Indians.      There  was  an  immense  procession  to  the 

1  Centennial  Oration,  ante,  p.  7-4. 
vol.  i.  6 


82  MEMOIR   OF   CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1830-31. 

meeting-house,  in  which  our  friend  Hopkinson  walked  amongst  the  cor- 
poration, professors,  and  tutors  of  Harvard  University.  .   .   . 

I  should  have  liked  to  roam  round  with  you  through  those  New  York 
bookstores.  In  fact,  a  bookstore  or  a  library  is  my  paradise.  I  have  been 
doing  something  here,  as  you  did  in  New  York,  to  invest  my  prize-money ; 
and,  depend  upon  it,  I  often  sighed  from  the  bottom  of  my  spirit  when  I  felt 
the  hollowness  of  my  pockets.  I  bought  me  a  Burton's  "  Anatomy  of  Melan- 
choly," a  Hazlitt's  "  British  Poets,"  a  Byron,  and  a  fine  one  volume  8vo 
Shakspeare,  called  the  London  "  Stage  Edition,"  with  which  I  am  much 
pleased.  It  contains  Shakspeare's  poems,  in  addition  to  his  plays.  I  should 
like  to  know  what  some  of  those  fine  editions  were  which  you  saw  at  New 
York.  I  take  such  an  interest  in  books  that  I  like  to  hear  about  them  though 
I  do  not  see  them.  I  presume  from  your  habits  that  you  have  been  accus- 
tomed to  keep  a  commonplace-book  or  scrap-book  or  something  of  the  kind. 
I  wish  you  to  tell  me  whether  you  kept  it  on  any  philosophical  plan,  and  what 
that  plan  was,  —  si  tibi  placeat.  I  wish  you  to  draw  upon  me  for  information 
about  what  is  going  on,  to  any  amount  whatever,  and  be  assured  I  shall 
answer  your  bills  most  cheerfully.  My  father  is  full  of  good  wishes  for  your 
■well-doing  and  happiness.1  C.  S. 


TO  CHARLEMAGNE  TOWER. 

November  4,  1830. 
.  .  .  The  exhibition  took  place  at  the  College  on  Oct.  19.  I  had  little 
desire  to  hear  all  the  performances,  so  I  did  not  get  there  till  about  twelve 
o'clock,  when,  as  I  was  ascending  the  steps  with  Hopkinson,  Browne  pre- 
sented himself  before  us.  The  exhibition  for  the  time  was  deserted,  and 
we  repaired  to  Hopkinson's  proctorial  room,  there  to  have  a  short,  friendly 
chat,  which  was  prolonged  till  the  oration  came  on.  The  subject  of  that  was 
"  Specks  in  the  Literary  Horizon."  Simmons2  did  nobly.  His  oration  was 
over  half  an  hour  in  length.  It  was  marked  by  a  plenitude  of  thought  and 
a  strength  of  expression,  and  showed  an  ease  of  composition,  which  in  a 
painter  we  should  call  a  "  free  pencil."  ...  I  know  you  will  wish  you  were 
here  during  this  last  week.  The  election  for  member  of  Congress  has  taken 
place,  and,  as  it  turned  upon  the  tariff  and  anti-tariff,  it  produced  a  consid- 
erable excitement.  Nathan  Apple  ton,  father  of  Apple  ton  in  the  present 
Senior  class,  was  the  tariff  candidate,  and  Henry  Lee  the  anti-tariff  one, 
both  merchants.  The  Tariffites  held  one  caucus  just  a  fortnight  ago,  at 
which  Evarts,  author  of  "  William  Penn,"  J.  B.  Davis,  A.  H.  Everett,  J.  T. 

1  The  letters  which  Sumner  wrote  at  this  period,  and  also  those  which  he  wrote  at  the 
Law  School,  contain  many  references  to  his  classmates  and  other  students,  with  details  of 
their  experiences  and  plans  of  life,  most  of  which  it  has  seemed  proper  to  omit.  They  show 
a  friendly,  and  in  many  instances  an  affectionate,  interest  in  those  with  whom  he  had  been 
associated  as  a  student. 

2  William  H.  Simmons. 


JEt.  19-20.J         TARIFF  MEETING  AT  FANEUIL  HALL.  83 

Austin,  Ben.  Gorham  (present  Representative),  and  William  Sullivan  spoke; 
and  lastly  the  huge  leviathan  of  New  England,  Webster  himself.  He  spoke 
but  a  few  minutes,  simply  expressing  his  wish  to  address  his  fellow-citizens 
at  length  on  this  subject;  and,  as  it  was  then  late,  moving  an  adjournment 
to  Saturday,  Oct.  30.  On  Saturday  evening,  the  hall  [Faneuil]  was  crowded 
to  excess  an  hour  before  the  time  (to  which  the  meeting  adjourned)  had  ar- 
rived. Never  had  the  ' '  Cradle  of  Liberty ' '  more  within  its  sides  than  on  that 
evening.  He  spoke  three  and  a  half  hours,  and  then  had  not  concluded  his 
remarks ;  when  the  meeting  adjourned  to  Quincy  Hall  for  Sunday  evening. 
When  Sunday  evening  arrived,  Quincy  Hall  was  crowded  to  overflowing,  and 
Mr.  Webster  concluded.  His  peroration  brought  to  my  mind  the  admirable 
one  in  his  speech  in  the  Senate.  Between  every  one  of  about  the  last  four 
sentences  he  was  greeted  with  three  cheers  by  that  immense  audience ;  and 
when  he  had  finished,  with  repeated  cheers,  wavings  of  hats,  kerchiefs,  &c. 
What  a  day  of  glory  to  him !  I  cannot  paint  the  impression  he  made,  neither 
can  I  the  strong,  convincing  argument  and  eloquence  he  displayed.  I  leave 
it  to  your  imagination.  Webster  was  followed  by  H.  G.  Otis,  who  spoke 
about  two  hours,  beautifully,  of  course.  His  voice  was  melodious  and  liquid; 
but  the  whole  character  of  his  oratory  was  a  contrast  to  the  bold,  nervous 
delivery  of  Webster.  He  plainly  showed  that  age  had  slackened  his  fires, 
and  that  he  was  no  longer  what  he  was  twenty  years  ago,  when  he  might 
almost  be  said  to  have 

"  Wielded  at  will  the  fierce  democratie  " 

of  Boston.  The  caucus  of  the  Anti-tariffites  was  nothing.  The  result  of 
these  great  exertions  of  the  Tariflites  was  the  election  of  Appleton.  You 
can  well  imagine  that  this  rich  feast  of  eloquence  relished  well,  and  with  no 
one  better  than  myself.  .  .  .  Your  friend, 

Sumner. 


TO  JONATHAN  F.  STEARNS,  NORTHFIELD,  MASS. 

Boston,  Nov.  24, 1830. 
My  Friend,  —  Here  I  am  fairly  located  in  house  No.  20,  Hancock  Street, 
on  the  opposite  side  and  lower  down  than  that  where  I  have  had  the  pleasure 
of  seeing  you  occasionally.  For  the  last  month,  the  thoughts  of  moving  and 
a  visit  to  Salem  to  see  John,1  and  attend  the  notorious  trials,  completely  filled 
my  mind.  Besides,  mathematics,  my  chief  est  foe,  buckles  on  daily  more 
impenetrable  armor.  I  am  now  digging  among  the  roots  of  algebra,  and 
believe  your  opinion  will  bear  me  out  when  I  say  that  these  roots,  when 
obtained,  are  but  bitter.  If  I  had  accepted  your  kind  invitation  and  posted 
up  to  Northfield,  it  would  have  been  a  month  before  I  could  have  got  my 
mind  again  into  the  right  train  to  have  prosecuted  all  the  studies  I  am  bear- 

1  Browne. 


84  MEMOIR  OF   CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1830-3 1. 

ing  up  under.  I  fear  that  mathematics  will  yet  conquer  me.  Browne  ap- 
pears in  as  good  spirits  as  I  ever  knew  him  to  be.  I  spent  three  days  with 
him,  the  greater  part  of  which  time  was  spent  both  by  him  and  myself  in 
the  court-room.  While  there,  he  gave  me  a  "  Sterne's  Sentimental  Journey,' ' 
neatly  bound.  .  .  . 

Your  friend,  C.  S. 


TO   CHARLEMAGNE  TOWER. 

Boston,  Dec.  8,  1830. 

"Never,  my  friend,  when  the  heavens  have  been  dressed  in  their  scorching 
robes  of  brass  for  weeks,  was  a  drop  of  rain  more  grateful  than  your  most 
timely  epistle.  It  found  me  about  one  and  a  half  o'clock  to-day  mired  among 
the  roots  of  algebra,  clawing  around  in  vain,  involved  in  Cimmerian  dark- 
ness, looking  and  finding  no  dawn.  Algebra  was  closed,  and  myself  was  de- 
posited safely  in  the  chair,  whence  my  mathematical  exertions  had  abstracted 
me,  to  read  and  re-read,  and  read  again  the  letter  of  a  friend.  .  .  . 

My  study !  mehercle  !  it  would  require  the  graphic  pencil  of  Hogarth  to  set 
it  before  you,  —  children  and  chairs,  bores  and  books,  andirons  and  paper, 
sunlight  and  Sumner;  in  short,  a  common  resting-place  for  all  the  family.  I 
often  think  of  you  and  your  neat  premises  when  I  am  sitting,  like  Chance 
amidst  the  little  chaos  around.  ...  I  was  sorry  not  to  find  on  your  table 
Juvenal,  one  of  the  first  poets  and  moralists  the  world  ever  saw,  the  Roman 
Shakspeare  in  the  ripeness  of  his  thoughts  and  the  strength  of  his  expres- 
sions, in  his  expanded  views  of  human  nature  and '  intensity  of  conception. 
Juvenal  I  shall  make  my  Latin  text-book;  I  study  him  every  afternoon,  read- 
ing about  one  hundred  lines  at  a  time.  I  frequently  find  it  hard  to  unfold 
his  meaning;  but  the  richness  of  the  fruit  will  repay  any  labor  in  gather- 
ing. ...  I  have  just  read  "  Fox  and  Wakefield's  Correspondence,  Chiefly  on 
Subjects  of  Classical  Literature."  How  could  a  man  in  Fox's  situation,  with 
so  many  diverse  and  enfolding  cares,  surrender  himself  so  devotedly  to  the 
6tudy  of  the  classics,  rivalling  an  old  scholiast  in  astuteness  and  critical  in- 
quiry, and  seemingly  as  conversant  with  all  as  any  man  who  had  made  them 
the  study  of  his  life?  And  yet  this  man  was  then  employed  upon  a  portion 
of  English  history,  and  was  supporting  the  Atlantean  weight  of  a  party 
which  held  divided  empire  with  the  king  himself.  Tower,  you  and  I  are  both 
young,  and  the  world  is  all  before  us.  You  are  ambitious,  I  know;  and  I  am 
not  ashamed  to  confess,  though  "  by  that  sin  fell  the  angels,"  that  I  also  am 
guilty.  We  are  then  fellow-laborers  in  the  same  field ;  we  are  both  striking 
our  sickles  at  the  same  harvest.  Its  golden  sheaves  are  all  pointing  to  you. 
You  have  been  laborious,  and  I  have  not.  I  have  trod  the  primrose,  and 
you  the  thorny,  path.  .  .  .  There  is  no  railway  to  fame.  Labor,  labor  must 
be  before  our  eyes;  nay,  more,  its  necessity  must  sink  deep  in  our  hearts. 
This  is  the  most  potent  alchemy  to  transmute  lead  into  gold. 

One  o'clock  at  night !  C.  S. 


^t.  19-20.]  EMPLOYMENT  AND   SELF-SUPPORT.  85 

TO  JONATHAN  F.  STEARNS. 

Sunday,  Feb.  13,  1831. 

My  Friend,  —  ...  I  have  for  three  weeks  been  trying  to  rear  the  tender 
thought,  as  an  assistant  to  our  old  friend,  McBurney,  at  Mr.  Hubbard's 
school.  Mr.  H.  had  to  go  to  Vermont,  and  he  engaged  me  to  assist  in  the 
duties  of  instruction  during  his  absence.  And  oh !  —  quorum  magna  pars  fui 
—  the  harassing,  throat-cutting,  mind-dissolving  duties :  pounding  knowledge 
into  heads  which  have  no  appetency  for  it,  and  enduring  the  arguing  of  urchin 
boys,  and  all  those  other  ills  to  which  schoolmaster-flesh  is  heir.  .  .  .  But 
the  cares  of  Mr.  H.'s  school  are  more  severe  than  those  of  most  schools,  on 
account  of  the  want  of  classification  in  the  boys,  and  the  being  obliged  to 
drudge  through  lessons  with  single  boys  without  any  of  the  excitement  of 
hearing  a  large  class,  and  also  the  attention  bestowed  on  them  out  of  school. 
You  must  see  that  my  experiences  are  rather  unfavorable.  Shall  I,  then, 
take  the  responsibility  of  a  school  like  that  of  which  you  are  the  head,  —  an 
academy  upon  which  many  look  with  an  eye  of  jealousy,  and  others  with  an 
interest  which  would  keep  a  watchful  eye  upon  the  instructor,  and  feel  itself 
wronged  if  his  exertions  and  abilities  did  not  come  up  to  a  standard  already 
fixed?  Further,  I  have  a  natural  aversion  to  keeping  school.  Yet  again,  it 
does  not  seem  right  that  I  should  stand  all  the  day  idle,  dependent  upon  my 
father  for  support  and  a  profession,  when  the  means  are  placed  before  me  of 
gaining  a  little  of  that  aliquid  immensum  infinitumque,  not  of  the  Roman  but 
of  the  modern.  Which  of  the  two  to  choose  ?  Here  I  am  wavering,  veer- 
!  ing  from  point  to  point  as  of  old,  distrustful  of  myself.  I  feel  unsettled  in 
my  condition.  My  age  begins  to  tell  me  I  ought  to  stand  on  my  own  legs, 
and  loosen  the  chain  which  has  ever  held  me  to  home.  I  see  no  means  of 
making  money  or  reputation  anywhere,  with  the  exception  of  the  former,  as 
a  schoolmaster. 

The  secrets  of  the  4>.  B.  K.  are  shortly  to  be  published.  I  have  seen  the 
manuscript  myself,  in  the  handwriting  of  one  of  the  oldest  ministers  of  this 
State,  initiated  in  1790.  ...  A  gentleman  told  me  he  had  conversed  with 
J.  Q.  Adams,  and  he  said  he  was  opposed  to  all  secret  societies,  and  should 
like  to  assist  in  removing  the  secrecy  from  the  3>.  B.  K.  It  will  not  hurt  it; 
it  will  benefit  it.     There  is  nothing  for  which  they  need  blush. 

McBurney  and  Hopkinson*were  here  last  evening,  and  spent  in  my  room 
a  kind  of  old  college  evening.  I  shall  expect  to  pass  a  like  time  with  you 
soon.  C.  S. 


TO  CHARLEMAGNE  TOWER,  ALBANY,  N.Y. 

Boston,  Friday  Evening,  May  27,  1831. 

"  Quid?  quasi  magnum 
Nempe  diem  donas?"  1 

.  .  .  Your  method  and  application  are  to  me  an  assurance  that  the  studies 
of  the  law  office  will  be  fruitful;  but  excuse  the  impertinence  of  a  friend.  *I 

1  Persius,  Sat.  V.  66,  67;  quoted  with  reference  to  Tower's  remissness  in  correspondence. 


86  MEMOIR  OF  CHARLES  SUMNER.         [1830-31. 

fear  that  Blackstone  and  his  train  will  usurp  your  mind  too  much,  to  the  ex- 
clusion of  all  cultivation  of  polite  letters.  The  more  I  think  of  this  last 
point,  the  more  important  it  seems  to  me  in  the  education  of  a  lawyer. 
"  Study  law  hard,"  said  Pinckney,  "but  study  polite  letters  as  hard."  So 
also  says  Story.  The  fact  is,  I  look  upon  a  mere  lawyer,  a  reader  of  cases 
and  cases  alone,  as  one  of  the  veriest  wretches  in  the  world.  Dry  items  and 
facts,  argumentative  reports,  and  details  of  pleadings  must  incrust  the  mind 
with  somewhat  of  their  own  rust.  A  lawyer  must  be  a  man  of  polish,  with 
an  omnium  gatherum  of  knowledge.  There  is  no  branch  of  study  or  thought 
but  what  he  can  betimes  summon  to  his  aid,  if  his  resources  allow  it.  What  is 
the  retailer  of  law-facts  by  the  side  of  the  man  who  invests  his  legal  acqui- 
sitions in  the  fair  garments  of  an  elegantly  informed  mind  ?  Every  argu- 
ment of  the  latter  is  heightened  by  the  threads  of  illustration  and  allusion 
which  he  weaves  with  it.  Besides,  it  is  more  profitable  as  to  legal  know- 
ledge for  a  student  to  devote  but  a  portion  of  his  time  to  the  law.  A  con- 
tinual application  to  it  would  jade  the  mind,  so  that  it  would  falter  under 
the  burden  imposed  by  its  own  ardor.  There  must  be  a  relaxation.  And  the 
best  relaxation  for  a  scholar  will  be  found  in  a  change  of  studies.  .  .  .  Your 
ambition  has  kept  you  employed  and  happy  all  this  winter,  I  will  engage, 
while  lassitude  and  negligence  have  been  preying  upon  me.  .  .  .  One  little 
feat  I  did,  which  I  now  tell  in  the  fulness  of  friendship  rather  than  vanity. 
The  "Boston  Society  for  the  Diffusion  of  Useful  Knowledge,"  —  D.  Web- 
ster, President,  John  Pickering,  V.  P.,  —  offered  a  premium  in  books  to 
the  author  (a  minor)  of  the  best  dissertation  on  any  thing  relating  to  com- 
merce, trade,  and  manufactures,  to  be  handed  up  Jan.  1.  It  popped  into  your 
friend's  head,  about  a  week  before  Jan.  1,  that  he  might  spend  a  day  or 
two  in  throwing  together  some  ideas  on  commerce,  and  the  time  would 
not  be  lost,  whether  he  was  successful  or  not.  I  wrote  about  thirty  pages, 
and  handed  it  up,  Bowdoin-like,  anonymously.  After  several  months,  a 
committee  of  twelve  unanimously  awarded  the  premium  to  me,  or  rather  to 
my  signature,  —  my  name  not  being  known  till  the  night  the  premium  was 
presented;  when  the  envelope  inclosing  it  was  opened  (after  Judge  Shaw  had 
finished  the  evening  lecture)  by  Mr.  Webster  himself,  in  presence  of  the 
society,  and  found  to  contain  my  name.  I  had  to  step  out  and  receive  some 
compliments  from  the  "godlike  man,"  and  the  information  that  the  society 
awarded  to  me  Lieber's  "Encyclopaedia  Americana,"  price  thirty  dollars. 
Surely  the  prize  and  praise  were  most  easily  gained.  Mind  you,  I  tell  this 
with  no  vanity.  It  requires,  though,  the  eye  of  a  friend  not  to  read  in  the 
foregoing  lines  a  self -praising  disposition.     With  you  I  trust  them.  .  .  . 

From  your  true  friend,  C.  S. 


TO  CHARLEMAGNE  TOWER. 

Boston,  Friday,  June  10,  1831. 
My  dear  Friend,  —  ...  Your  letter,  just  handed  to  me  by  my  father, 
has  called  me  from  a  most  listless,  fruitless  perusal  of  Hallam's  "  History  of 


JEt.  19-20.]  EARNESTNESS  IN  ANTI-MASONRY.  87 

the  Middle  Ages."  The  book  now  lies  open  on  the  sofa,  where  I  was  loung- 
ing. My  paper  is  before  me,  and  pen  in  hand.  The  past  has  gone  through 
my  mind  with  its  thronging  associations.  .  .  .  You  have  quite  introduced 
me  to  your  master  [Mr.  Bleecker].  I  should  like  him  for  his  law,  his  litei- 
ature ;  and  should  not  dislike  him  for  the  singleness  of  his  life.  My  own 
reflections  though,  and  the  advice  of  others,  tell  me  that  it  is  better  to  study 
with  one  whose  business  is  other  than  that  of  a  counsellor;  the  drudgery, 
writ-making,  &c,  of  an  office  is  what  a  young  student  ought  to  undergo. 
Give  me  my  first  year  and  a  half  in  the  entirely  theoretical  studies  of  a  law- 
school  and  my  remainder  in  a  thronged  business  office,  where  I  can  see  the 
law  in  those  shapes  in  which  a  young  lawyer  can  alone  see  and  practise  it. 
It  is  years  which  make  the  counsellor. 

I  have  just  read  Persius.  I  value  him  little.  My  mind,  like  yours,  is 
full  of  plans  of  study,  few  of  which  I  am  ever  able  to  compass.  My  reflec- 
tion calls  up  such  a  multitude  of  books  unread,  that  I  am  lost,  —  like 
Spenser's  Una  and  the  Redcrosse  Knight, — 

"  So  many  pathes,  so  many  turnings  seene, 
That  which  of  them  to  take,  in  diverse  doubt  they  been."  *■ 

I  wish  to  read  the  principal  classics,  particularly  Latin  ones.  I  fear  I  shall 
never  reach  the  Greek.  I  have  thought  of  Thucydides,  the  hardest  but 
completest  historian.  I  shall  not  touch  him  probably.  Tell  me  your  experi- 
ences of  Herodotus.  .  .  . 

From  your  true  friend,  C.  S. 


TO  JONATHAN  F.  STEARNS,  BEDFORD,   MASS. 

Sunday  Eve,  Aug.  7,  1831. 

My  Friend,  my  Old  College  Friend,  —  ...  You  ask  if  I  hold  fast 
to  Anti-masonry?  When  I  do  not,  pronounce  me  a  recreant.  I  hold  fast  to 
it  through  some  ridicule,  and,  I  dare  say,  slurs  upon  my  sense.  Truth  has 
ever  been  reviled  when  she  first  appeared,  whether  as  the  bearer  of  a  glorious 
system  of  religion,  or  of  the  laws  which  govern  this  universe.  Time  is  her  great 
friend.  I  do  not  hardly  understand  from  your  letter  whether  you  join  with 
me  or  no.  Dr.  Beecher  has  come  out  manfully.  At  the  celebration  in  Boston, 
he  prayed  that  the  great  and  good  cause  in  which  we  are  engaged  might  find 
acceptance  above;  and  if  ever  cause  did  find  that  acceptance,  this  will. 

I  think  of  hitching  upon  the  law  at  Cambridge  this  coming  Commence- 
ment. I  am  grateful  for  the  encouraging  word  you  give  me.  I  am  rather 
despondent,  and  I  meet  from  none  of  my  family  those  vivifying  expressions 
which  a  young  mind  always  heartily  accepts.  My  father  says  nought  by  way 
of  encouragement,  He  seems  determined  to  let  me  shape  my  own  course,  so 
that  if  I  am  wise,  I  shall  be  wise  for  myself;  and  if  I  am  foolish,  I  alone  shall 
bear  it.     It  may  be  well  that  it  is  so.     I  do  not  revolt  from  taking  my  fate 

1  The  Faerie  Queene. 


88  MEMOIR  OF   CHARLES   SUMSTER.  [1830-31. 

into  my  own  hands.  I  shall  go  to  Cambridge  with  a  cartload  of  resolves,  and 
I  believe  with  enough  of  the  firmness  of  a  man  to  abide  by  a  five-hundredth 
part.  Law,  classics,  history,  and  literature;  all  of  them  shall  meet  my 
encounter.     Methinks  I  must  read  some  of  the  Greek  tragedians.  .  .  . 

Your  friend  truly,  C.  S 


TO  CHARLEMAGNE  TOWER,  WATERVILLE,  N.Y. 

Boston,  Monday  Evening,  Aug.  29,  1831. 

My  dear  Friend,  —  ...  I  can  fully  sympathize  in  your  feelings  aris- 
ing from  the  severance  from  your  studies.1  Yet  I  see  in  it  much  room  for 
hope.  Your  mind  will  be  brought  at  once  into  the  hard  conflict  of  the  world. 
You  will  transact  business;  and  get  initiated  into  those  perplexities  which, 
sooner  or  later,  all  of  the  sons  of  Adam  must  meet.  You  will  confirm  your- 
self in  a  knowledge  of  the  world,  and  wear  off  the  academic  rust  with  which 
exclusive  students  are  covered.  Time  will  allow  you,  I  know  (for  I  know 
you  will  lose  no  time) ,  to  prosecute  your  law  with  profit ;  and  you  will  find 
in  your  newly  assumed  cares  a  grateful  change,  perhaps,  from  the  abstract 
speculations  in  which  Blackstone  and  Kent  and  Fearne  will  engage  you. 
And  more  than  all,  you  will  have  the  consciousness  that  you  are  forwarding 
the  wishes  of  your  father,  and  giving  up  your  time,  perhaps,  that  it  may 
be  added  to  his  days. 

It  is  now  two  days  before  Commencement.  I  am  stiff  in  the  determina- 
tion to  commence  the  coming  year  in  the  study  of  law  at  Cambridge.  ...  I 
intend  to  give  myself  to  the  law,  so  as  to  read  satisfactorily  the  regular  and 
parallel  courses,  to  take  hold  of  some  of  the  classics,  — Greek,  if  I  can  possibly 
gird  up  my  mind  to  the  work,  — to  pursue  historical  studies,  —  to  read  Say 
and  Stewart ; 2  all  mingled  with  those  condiments  to  be  found  in  Shakspeare 
and  the  British  poets.  All  empty  company  and  association  I  shall  eschew, 
and  seek  in  the  solitariness  of  my  own  mind  the  best  (because  the  least 
seducing  from  my  studies)  companion.  Can  I  hold  fast  to  these  good  de- 
terminations? I  fear  much  the  rebellious  spirit  of  the  mortal.  However, 
I  will  try.  I  must  endeavor  to  redress  by  future  application  my  past  remiss- 
ness. The  latter  part  of  this  year  has  been  given  up  to  unprofitableness.  I 
have  indeed  studied,  or  passed  my  eyes  over  books;  but  much  of  my  time, 
and  almost  my  whole  mind,  have  been  usurped  by  newspapers  and  politics. 
I  have  reached  in  anxiety  for  the  latest  reports  from  Washington ,  and  watched 
the  waters  in  their  ebb  and  rise  in  different  parts  of  the  country.  JSTo  more 
of  this  though.  With  Boston  I  shall  leave  all  the  little  associations  which 
turned  aside  my  mind  from  its  true  course. 

1  Tower  had  been  obliged  to  suspend  his  studies  in  order  to  take  charge  of  the  mercantile 
business  of  his  father,  who  was  then  ill. 

2  J.  B.  Say's  "Treatise  on  Political  Economy,"  and  Dugald  Stewart's  "Elements  of  the 
Philosophy  of  the  Human  Mind." 


JEt.  19-20.]  STUDY  OF  THE   CLASSICS.  89 

In  the  way  of  classics,  I  wish  to  read  Tacitus,  Lucretius,  Virgil,  Ovid, 
Sallust,  Cicero,  Horace,  Homer,  Thucydides,  and  choice  plays  of  the  great 
tragedians.  Do  you  start?  I  only  say  I  wish  to  do  it;  but  I  mean  to  do  it  if 
impossibility  is  not  written  upon  it.  I  wish  also  to  reacquaint  myself  with 
political  economy  and  intellectual  philosophy.  I  find  myself  nonplussed  daily 
in  my  own  reflections  by  my  ignorance  of  these  subjects.  .  .  . 

J.  Q.  Adams  has  written  a  letter  on  Masonry.  I  will  send  it  to  you  as 
soon  as  I  can  lay  my  hands  upon  it.  Rumor  says  something  on  this  may  be 
expected  soon  from  Webster.  He  is  an  Anti -mason,  and  in  this  I  speak 
from  more  than  report.1  Your  true  friend, 

Chakles  Sumner. 

l  Curtis's  Life  of  Webster,  Vol.  I.,  pp.  391-393,  508-511,  refers  to  Mr.  Webster's  course 
on  this  question. 


90  MEMOIR   OF  CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1831-33. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

LAW  SCHOOL.— SEPTEMBER,  1831,  TO  DECEMBER,  1833.  — AGE,  20-22. 

OUMNER  joined  the  Law  School  of  Harvard  University,  Sept. 
^  1,  1831. *  This  school  grew  out  of  the  Royall  Professorship 
of  Law,  which  was  established  in  1815.  It  was  organized  as  a 
distinct  department  two  years  later ;  but  its  vigorous  life  began 
in  1829,  with  the  appointment  of  Judge  Story  and  John  H.  Ash- 
mun  as  professors.  The  character  of  Story  as  jurist  and  teacher, 
his  immense  learning,  copious  speech,  great  enthusiasm,  and 
kindly  interest  in  students  have  been  often  commemorated.2 
Ashmun  was  remarkable  for  his  acumen  and  logical  method  ; 
and  the  two  professors  were  well  mated.  At  that  time  the 
method  of  teaching  was,  not  only  to  illustrate  the  topic  of  study 
by  decided  or  supposed  cases,  and  to  comment  upon  and  criticise 
the  text-book,  but  also  to  examine  most  of  the  students  quite 
closely  upon  the  lesson  of  the  day.  The  exercise  was  a  recitation 
rather  than  a  lecture,  —  a  mode  of  instruction  which  becomes 
inconvenient  when  a  professional  school  is  largely  attended. 

Professor  Ashmun  was  the  sole  instructor  when  Judge  Story 
was  absent  on  judicial  duty  at  Washington,  or  on  his  circuit. 
His  service  as  teacher  was  cut  short  by  his  death,  April  1,  1833. 
Sumner  alone  was  with  him  when  he  died,  his  sole  watcher  for 
the  night.3  He  afterwards  collected  the  funds  for  a  monument 
to  his  teacher,  and  revised  his  manuscripts  for  posthumous  publi- 
cation in  the  "  American  Jurist."     He  was  admitted  to  the  pro- 

1  Sumner  was  the  author  of  two  sketches  of  the  Law  School, —one,  an  article  in  the 
"American  Jurist,"  Jan.,  1835,  Vol.  XIII.  pp.  107-130;  and  the  other,  "A  Report  of 
the  Committee  of  Overseers,"  Feb.,  1850.  Works,  Vol.  II.  pp.  377-392.  Another  history 
of  the  school,  by  Professor  Emorv  Washburn,  may  be  found  in  "  The  Harvard  Book," 
Vol.  I.  pp.  223-231. 

2  Judge  Story's  method  as  a  teacher  is  described  in  his  "Life  and  Letters,"  edited  by 
his  son,  Vol.  II.  pp.  35-39. 

8  Judge  Story's  funeral  discourse  on  Professor  Ashmun  was  printed  in  the  "American 
Jurist,"  July,  1833,  Vol.  X.  pp.  40-52.  An  extract  is  copied  in  Story's  "Life  and  Let- 
ters," Vol.  II.  pp.  143-148.  Sumner  was  "the  interesting  friend"  referred  to  in  the  dis- 
course. 


^t.  20-22.]  AT  THE  LAW  SCHOOL.  91 

fessor's  confidence,  and  received  peculiar  help  from  his  severe 
method  of  legal  investigation.  Ashmun  insisted  always  on 
definiteness  of  thought  and  exactness  of  expression,  and  was  in 
the  habit  of  testing  the  knowledge  of  his  favorite  pupils  by  close 
scrutiny  and  criticism.  This  was  a  healthy  discipline  for  one  of 
Sumner's  tastes  and  habits  of  study,  and  he  profited  much  by  it. 

Professor  Ashmun  was  succeeded,  in  July,  by  Simon  Green- 
leaf,1  the  author  of  the  treatise  on  "  The  Law  of  Evidence ;  "  the 
vacancy  being  filled  during  the  intervening  period  by  James  C. 
Alvord,  of  Greenfield,  a  young  lawyer  of  marked  ability.  Both 
saw  in  Sumner  a  student  of  large  promise,  and  became  at  once  his 
friends.  Professor  Greenleaf's  interest  in  him  was  hardly  second 
to  Judge  Story's,  and  was  prolonged  after  the  close  of  Sumner's 
connection  with  the  school  as  pupil  or  instructor. 

Judge  Story  was  at  first  attracted  to  Sumner  by  a  long-existing 
friendship  with  his  father ;  and  he  had  been  in  the  school  but  a 
short  time  before  a  very  close  intimacy  was  established  between 
them.  Biography  gives  no  instance  of  a  more  beautiful  relation 
between  teacher  and  pupil.  The  judge  admired  Sumner's  zeal  in 
study,  enjoyed  his  society,  and  regarded  him  like  a  son.  Sumner 
conceived  a  profound  respect  for  the  judge's  character  and  learn- 
ing, and  was  fascinated  by  his  personal  qualities.  This  friend- 
ship entered  very  largely  into  Sumner's  life,  and  for  many  years 
gave  direction  to  his  thoughts  and  ambition.  The  eloquent  trib- 
utes which  he  afterwards  paid  to  the  memory  of  his  master  and 
friend  are  the  witnesses  of  his  veneration  and  love.2 

Sumner,  during  the  early  part  of  his  course  at  the  Law  School, 
occupied  room  Number  10  Divinity  Hall,  the  most  retired  of  the 
college  buildings,  and  took  his  meals  in  commons.  Afterwards, 
he  became  librarian  of  the  school,  and,  as  one  of  the  privileges 
of  his  office,  occupied  as  a  dormitory  room  Number  4  Dane  Hall, 
from  the  time  that  building  was  opened  for  use  in  Oct.,  1832.3 

The  Law  School  then  numbered  forty  students,4  and  was  divided 
into  three  classes,  —  the  Senior,  Middle,  and  Junior.  There 
were  three  terms  a  year,  corresponding  to  the  college  terms ; 
and  the  instruction  was  given,  prior  to  the  erection  of  Dane 

1  1783-1853 ;  practised  law  in  Maine,  1806-1833 ;  professor  at  Cambridge,  1833-1848. 

2  Tribute  of  Friendship,  Works,  Vol.  I.  pp.  133-148;  "The  Jurist,"  Works,  Vol.  I.  pp. 
258-272. 

8  When  Dane  Hall  was  removed  a  few  feet,  in  1871,  to  its  present  site,  its  portico  and 
columns  were  taken  down  and  an  enclosed  brick  porch  substituted. 
4  It  now  numbers  one  hundred  and  eighty-seven. 


92  MEMOIR  OF   CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1831-33. 

Hall,  in  College  House,  Number  1,  nearly  opposite  to  its  present 
site.  Of  the  law-students,  Sumner  associated  most  with  his  col- 
lege classmate  Browne,  who,  entering  at  the  same  time,  was,  on 
account  of  a  year's  study  in  an  office,  advanced  to  the  Middle 
Class ;  with  Wendell  Phillips,  who,  graduating  from  college  a 
yectr  later  than  Sumner,  now  entered  with  him  the  Junior  Class ; 
with  Henry  W.  Paine,  of  Winslow,  Me.,1  who  entered  Sumner's 
class  in  the  spring  of  1832,  and  whose  acquaintance  he  then  made ; 
and  with  his  classmate  Hopkinson,  who  joined  the  school  in  the 
autumn  of  that  year.2  With  each  of  these  he  discussed  common 
studies  and  plans  of  life,  in  his  room  and  in  occasional  walks. 
Sumner  and  Phillips  had  been  fellow-students,  though  in  differ- 
ent classes,  at  the  Latin  School  and  in  college  ;  but  their  familiar 
acquaintance  dates  from  their  connection  with  the  Law  School.3 
Sumner  had  now  attained  the  full  height  of  his  manhood,  — 
six  feet  and  two  inches.  He  was  tall  and  gaunt,  weighing  only 
one  hundred  and  twenty  pounds.  His  hair  was  dark-brown  ;  his 
eyes  hazel,  and  inflamed  by  excessive  use;  his  face  sharp-feat- 
ured ;  his  teeth  gleaming  with  whiteness  ;  his  complexion  dark 
and  not  clear;  his  visage  and  person  not  attractive  to  the 
eye,  and  far  unlike  his  presence  in  later  life,  when  with  full  pro- 
portions and  classic  features  he  arrested  attention  in  the  Senate 
and  on  the  street.  He  was  never  disabled  by  illness,  and  seemed 
exempt  from  the  physical  limitations  which  beset  others,  denying 
himself  the  exercise  and  sleep  which  Nature  commands.  He 
was  swift  on  his  feet,  striding  from  Boston  to  Cambridge  at  the 
pace  of  nearly  five  miles  an  hour,  and  putting  out  of  breath  any 
companion  who  had  been  unlucky  enough  to  undertake  the  walk 
with  him.  His  voice  was  strong,  clear,  and  sonorous.  His  coun- 
tenance was  lighted  up  with  expression,  and  his  genial  smile 
won   friends  upon  an  introduction.      His  spirits  were  buoyant 

1  Mr.  Paine  practised  his  profession  for  several  years  in  Hallowell,  Me.,  and  removed,  in 
1854,  to  Boston,  where  he  is  still  one  of  the  leaders  of  the  bar. 

2  Among  other  friends  in  the  Law  School  were  Charles  C.  Converse  and  George  Gibbs. 
Converse  became  a  judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  State  of  Ohio.  He  resided  at  Zanes- 
ville,  and  died  in  1860.  Gibbs  was  a  nephew  of  Rev.  Dr.  William  E.  Channing.  He  was 
the  author  of  the  "Memoirs  of  the  Administrations  of  Washington  and  John  Adams." 
He  resided  at  Washington  during  our  Civil  War,  and  died  April  9,  1873.  He  assisted 
Sumner  in  procuring  and  arranging  the  materials  for  his  speech  on  the  purchase  of  Alaska. 
His  manuscripts,  containing  researches  on  the  Indians  of  the  Northwest,  are  deposited  in  the 
Smithsonian  Institution.  Sumner,  in  his  "Sketch  of  the  Law  School,"  referred  to  Gibbs's 
"Judicial  Chronicle,"  prepared  when  the  latter  was  under  the  age  of  majority.  "American 
Jurist,"  Jan.,  1835,  Vol.  XIII.  p.  120. 

8  Mr.  Phillips  is  the  author  of  the  sketch  of  Sumner  in  Johnson's  Encyclopaedia. 


JEt.  20-22.]  DEVOTION  TO  LAW  STUDIES.  93 

in  company,  and  his  laugh  was  loud  and  hearty.  But,  what- 
ever were  his  physical  characteristics,  there  was  a  charm  in  his 
perfect  simplicity  and  naturalness,  his  absolute  sincerity  of  heart, 
his  enthusiasm  and  scholarly  ambition,  his  kindness  to  fellow- 
students,  his  respect  for  older  people,  his  friendliness  for  all,  — 
qualities  which  never  fail  to  win  interest  and  affection.  Many 
who  knew  him  in  early  days,  parted  afterwards  by  divergent 
tastes  or  sharp  political  antagonisms,  now  recall  the  memory  of 
this  period  only  to  speak  pleasantly  and  even  tenderly  of  him. 

The  beginning  of  his  studies  in  the  Law  School  marks  a 
distinct  transition  in  Sumner's  early  life.  To  the  classmates  who 
were  nearest  to  him  in  sympathy  he  frankly  confessed  his  am- 
bition. It  had,  while  in  college  and  the  year  after,  been  stirred 
by  the  great  names  of  history ;  but,  until  he  decided  to  study  at 
the  Law  School,  it  was  vague  and  unsettled.  Having  chosen  his 
profession,  the  jurist  became  his  ideal.  He  aspired  to  know  the 
law  as  a  science,  and  not  merely  to  follow  it  as  a  lucrative  occu- 
pation. Such  names  as  those  of  Grotius,  Pothier,  Mansfield,  and 
Blackstone  dwelt  much  in  his  thoughts.  Fascinated  by  Story's 
learning  and  fame,  he  looked  probably  to  the  bench  or  the  pro- 
fessor's chair  as  the  highest  reward  of  his  unwearied  toils.1 

He  entered  on  his  chosen  study  with  the  greatest  ardor  and 
enthusiasm.  To  a  classmate  he  wrote  of  the  law  as  wt  a  noble 
profession,  an  immense  field."  He  husbanded  his  time,  and 
grudged  every  moment  of  diversion.  Early  and  late  at  his 
books,  limiting  personal  associations  to  a  narrow  circle,  abstain- 
ing from  needful  recreation  even  in  vacations,  chary  of  evenings 
spared  for  amusements,  and  only  yielding  to  the  attractions  of 
some  eminent  actor,  he  devoted  himself  to  his  studies,  not  only 
during  the  day  and  evening,  but  prolonged  them  past  midnight 
till  two  in  the  morning,  —  his  usual  hour  of  retiring.  Once, 
when  poring  over  his  books,  he  was  startled  by  the  janitor's 
tread  and  the  breaking  daylight.  He  knew  the  place  of  each 
book  in  the  library  so  well,  that  he  could  readily  find  it  in  the 
dark.  No  monk  ever  kept  his  vigils  with  more  absorbing  devo- 
tion. The  tone  of  his  letters  changed  perceptibly  at  this  time ; 
no  longer  light  and  sportive  as  before,  they  are  altogether  seri- 
ous, and  relate  chiefly  to  his  studies,  with  only  brief  references 
to  the  incidents  of  college  life  and  tidings  from  classmates. 

i  In  his  oration  on  "The  Scholar,  the  Jurist,  the  Artist,  the  Philanthropist,"  he  draws, 
with  illustrations,  the  distinction  between  the  jurist  and  the  lawyer.  Works,  Vol  I.  pp. 
263-268. 


94  MEMOIR  OF  CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1831-33. 

Shortly  after  he  entered  the  Law  School,  he  procured  a 
"Lawyer's  Commonplace-Book,"  in  which  he  wrote  out  tables  of 
English  kings  and  lord-chancellors,  with  dates  of  reigns  and 
terms;  sketches  of  lawyers,  drawn  largely  from  Roscoe's 
"Lives;"  extracts  from  Sir  Matthew  Hale's  "History  of  the 
Common  Law ;  "  and  the  definitions  and  incidents  of  "  Estates," 
as  laid  down  by  Blackstone. 

The  list  of  books  read  by  him  at  the  school,  as  noted  in  his 
commonplace-books,  is  remarkable  for  its  wide  range,  and  begins 
with  this  memorandum  and  extract  from  Coke's  First  Institute  : 
"  Law  reading  commenced  Sept.,  1831,  at  Cambridge.  '  Holding 
this  for  an  undoubted  verity,  that  there  is  no  knowledge,  case, 
or  point  in  law,  seeme  it  of  never  so  little  account,  but  will 
stand  our  student  in  stead  at  one  time  or  other.'  1  Inst.  9." 
Besides  his  common-law  studies,  he  read  widely  in  French  law. 

Sumner's  memory  was  not  less  extraordinary  than  his  industry. 
Students  applied  to  him  for  guidance  in  their  investigations,  and 
even  lawyers  in  practice  sought,  in  a  few  instances  at  least,  his 
aid  in  the  preparation  of  briefs. 

While  his  friends  admired  his  zeal  and  enthusiasm,  they  were 
not  altogether  pleased  with  his  excessive  application,  and  advised 
greater  moderation  in  his  studies.  There  was  reason  in  their 
caution.  It  is  possible  to  task  the  receptive  capacity  of  the  mind 
to  the  injury  of  its  creative  power ;  and  Sumner,  perhaps,  gath- 
ered his  knowledge  too  fast  for  the  best  intellectual  discipline. 

His  notes  of  the  moot-court  cases  heard  by  the  professors,  in 
several  of  which  he  was  counsel,1  are  preserved.  In  Feb.,  1833, 
he  maintained  (Wendell  Phillips  being  of  counsel  on  the  other 
side)  the  negative  of  the  question,  whether  a  Scotch  bond,  as- 
signable by  the  law  of  Scotland,  can  be  sued  by  the  assignee  in 
his  own  name  in  our  courts.  He  seems  to  have  been  dissatisfied 
with  his  argument,  and  wrote  to  Browne,  stating  his  hesitation 
in  public  speaking,  and  his  difficulty  in  selecting  fit  language  for 
his  thoughts.  Browne  replied,  saying  that  he  had  overstated  the 
difficulty,  which  was  not  peculiar  to  him  ;  and  advising  a  simpler 
style,  with  less  effort  and  consciousness,  and  the  rejection  of  large 
words,  —  sesquipedalia  verba  ("  to  which  you  know  you  are  ad- 
dicted "),  —  and  "  uncommon,  brilliant,  and  Gibbonic  phrases." 
"  You  do  not  stumble,"  he  said  ;   "  you  utter  rapidly  enough. 

i  Cases  heard  Oct.  22,  Nov.  22,  and  Dec.  13,  1832 :  and  Jan.  14,  Feb.  18,  June  5,  July  5, 
and  Oct.  20,  1833. 


JEt.  20-22]  ANOTHER  BOWDOIN  PRIZE.  95 

To  be  sure,  you  have  not  the  torrens  dicendi,  and  that  is  a  very- 
fortunate  thing." 

Sumner  competed  successfully  for  a  Bowdoin  prize  offered  to 
resident  graduates  for  the  best  dissertation  on  the  theme,  "  Are 
the  most  important  Changes  in  Society  effected  Gradually  or  by 
Violent  Revolutions  ?  "  His  manuscript  bore  a  motto  from  the 
" Agricola "  of  Tacitus :  "Per  intervalla  ac  spiramenta  tempo- 
rum."  It  was  written  in  a  fortnight,  without  interfering  with 
his  regular  studies,  and  covered  fifty  pages.  Some  of  its  quota- 
tions may  be  traced  in  his  orations.  The  early  part  is  elaborate, 
but  the  latter  hurriedly  written.  Much  space  is  taken  with  a  re- 
view of  the  condition  of  Europe  in  the  "  Dark  Ages,"  and  of  the 
agencies  which  promoted  modern  civilization,  —  a  line  of  thought 
probably  suggested  by  his  recent  reading  of  Hallam's  "  Middle 
Ages."  This  progressive  development,  he  maintained,  shows  that 
the  improvement  of  society  is  effected  by  gradual  reforms,  often 
unobserved,  rather  than  by  revolutions.  The  former  are  always 
to  be  encouraged ;  the  latter  become  necessary  when  society  has 
outgrown  its  institutions,  and  peaceful  changes  are  resisted  by 
the  governing  power.  The  dissertation  bears  the  marks  of  haste 
in  composition,  and  is  marred  by  digressions  and  wanting  in 
compactness.1  He  did  not  then  apply  the  labor  of  assiduous  and 
repeated  revision,  which  was  afterwards  habitual  with  him.  While 
not  falling  below  the  similar  efforts  of  clever  young  men,  it  is 
not  prophetic  of  future  distinction.  One  passage  is  interesting, 
when  read  in  the  light  of  his  subsequent  career :  — 

"  Times  like  these  (when  revolutions  become  necessary)  call  for  the  exer- 
tions of  the  truly  brave  man.  The  good  citizen  may  revolt  at  violence  and 
outrage,  and  all  the  calamities  which  thicken  upon  a  people  divided  with 
itself;  but  if  he  be  true  to  his  country,  he  will  incur  the  risk  for  the  prize  in 
store.  '  For  surely,  to  every  good  and  peaceable  citizen,'  said  Milton,2  himself 
an  actor  in  scenes  like  these  to  which  I  am  referring,  '  it  must  in  nature  needs 
be  a  hateful  thing  to  be  the  displeaser  and  molester  of  thousands.  But  when 
God  commands  to  take  the  trumpet  and  blow  a  dolorous  or  a  jarring  blast,  it 
lies  not  in  man's  will  what  he  shall  say  or  what  he  shall  conceal. '  The  ques- 
tion is  one  upon  which  hangs  the  prosperity  and  happiness  of  his  country  for 
years  to  come.  A  great  battle  is  to  be  fought;  but  the  fruits  of  the  victory 
are  not  to  him  alone.     The  honor  and  garland  are  his ;  but  the  benefit  goea 

1  President  Quincy  wrote  him  a  note,  requesting  an  intervieAV  in  relation  to  the  disser- 
tation,—  with  what  particular  purpose  it  is  not  now  definite]}'  known,  but  perhaps  with 
reference  to  some  digressions  which  are  still  noted  with  pencil-marks,  made  at  the  time. 

a  "Reason  of  Church  Government  urged  against  Prelatry." 


96  MEMOIR  OF   CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1831-33. 

down  to  the  latest  posterity.  The  toil  and  danger  are  his ;  but,  in  Milton's 
words  again,  '  he  shall  have  his  charter  and  freehold  of  rejoicing  to  him  and 
his  heirs.'  " 

It  was  Sumner's  purpose  to  leave  the  Law  School  in  July, 
1833,  at  the  end  of  a  two  years'  course ;  but  he  yielded  to  the 
persuasions  of  Judge  Story,  who  urged  him  to  remain  during 
the  next  term,  which  would  close  with  the  year.  The  judge 
wrote  to  him  from  Washington,  July  12 :  "I  am  very  glad  that 
you  have  concluded  to  remain  at  the  Law  School  another  term. 
It  will,  I  think,  be  very  profitable  to  you,  and  not  in  the  slightest 
degree  affect  your  means  of  practical  knowledge.  Let  nothing 
induce  you  to  quit  the  law.  You  will,  as  sure  as  you  live,  possess 
a  high  rank  in  it,  and  need  not  fear  the  frowns  of  fortune  or  of 
power." 

While  Judge  Story  was  absent  at  Washington,  Sumner  was 
his  correspondent  at  Cambridge,  and  served  him  in  forwarding 
books,  distributing  presentation  copies  of  his  works,  and  in  simi- 
lar good  offices.  The  judge  wrote,  Feb.  6,  1833,1  "  There  are 
not  many  of  whom  I  would  venture  to  ask  the  favor  of  troubling 
themselves  in  my  affairs;  but  I  feel  proud  to  think  that  you 
are  among  the  number,  and  I  have,  in  some  sort,  as  the  Scotch 
would  say,  a  heritable  right  to  your  friendship."  And  again,  on 
Feb.  4,  1834 :  "  You  must  begin  to  be  chary  of  your  intellectual 
as  well  as  physical  strength,  or  it  may  be  exhausted  before  you 
reach  the  fair  maturity  of  life." 

During  the  summer  and  autumn  of  1833,  while  serving  as 
librarian,  Sumner  prepared  a  catalogue  of  the  library  of  the 
Law  School.  His  work,  for  which  he  was  voted  one  hundred 
and  fifty  dollars  by  the  corporation,  was  carefully  done  and  much 
approved  at  the  time.  It  contains,  besides  the  list  of  books,  an 
interesting  sketch  of  the  growth  of  the  library,  and  of  the  gifts 
of  the  second  Thomas  Hollis,  of  Lincoln's  Inn,  which  was  repub- 
lished in  the  "  American  Jurist."  2 

In  1833,  he  contributed  two  articles  to  the  "American 
Monthly  Review:"3  one,  a  review  of  the  impeachment  trials 
before  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  and  particularly  that  of 
Judge  Peck ;  and  the  other,  a  notice  of  an  edition  of  Blackstone's 
"  Commentaries,"  with  special  reference  to  the  notes  of  Chris- 

1  Story's  Life  and  Letters,  Vol.  II.  pp.  119,  120. 

2  Jan.,  1834,  Vol.  XII.  pp.  263-268.  3  April  and  May. 


A.T.  20-22.1  TRAITS  AS   A  LAW   STUDENT.  97 

tian  and  Chitty.    Browne  wrote  to  him  in  relation  to  the  former 
article :  — 

"  It  is  learned  without  a  show  of  learning.  To  have  been  able  to  accom- 
plish such  a  matter  is  no  small  subject  of  rejoicing.  I  am  glad  to  see  you 
grow.  You  have  improved  your  style  in  proportions  and  muscle.  It  bears 
in  that  article  a  favorable  comparison  with  a  strong,  healthy,  well-built  man. 
Did  you  get  that  Latin  quotation  from  Persius?  That  was  the  only  thing 
I  would  ask  to  strike  out.  It  was  far-fetched,  knotty,  and  hard  to  h<* 
translated." 

Near  the  close  of  his  second  year  in  the  Law  School,  he  began 
to  write  for  the  "American  Jurist,"  a  law  periodical  which  main- 
tained a  high  rank,  and  numbered  among  its  contributors  Theron 
Metcalf,  Simon  Greenleaf,  Luther  S.  dishing,  George  S.  Hillard, 
and  Dr.  I.  Kay.  Some  of  its  series  of  articles  —  notably,  Judge 
Metcalf  s  on  Contracts  —  afterwards  grew  into  treatises.  Wil- 
lard  Phillips — author  of  the  treatise  on  "  The  Law  of  Insur- 
ance "  —  was  the  editor.  Sumner's  first  contribution  was  to  the 
number  for  July,  1833,  —  a  notice  of  a  lecture  before  King's  Col- 
lege, London,  by  Professor  J.  J.  Park,  on  "  Courts  of  Equity."  * 
The  article  defines  at  some  length  and  with  happy  illustrations 
the  distinction  between  law  and  equity,  then  much  misconceived. 
Judge  Story  noted  it,  in  his  "  Equity  Jurisprudence,"  as  "  a  forci- 
ble exposition  of  the  prevalent  errors  on  the  subject,"  and  as 
"  full  of  useful  comment  and  research." 2  It  is  a  thoughtful  and 
well- written  paper,  entirely  worthy  of  a  lawyer  who  had  added 
practice  to  his  professional  studies. 

Sumner's  method  of  composition  changed  perceptibly  while  he 
was  in  the  Law  School.  His  style  became  more  compact,  his 
vocabulary  more  select,  his  thought  clearer  and  more  exact.  His 
topics  exercised  the  critical  faculty,  and  the  discipline  of  legal 
studies  counteracted  his  tendency  to  diffuseness.  He  was,  more 
than  before,  the  master  of  his  material.  There  was  not  as  yet 
the  glow,  the  earnestness,  or  the  moral  inspiration  which  were* 
afterwards  the  peculiar  traits  of  his  writings ;  these  were  re- 
served for  a  period  when  his  life  was  to  be  among  events  rather 
than  among  books.  His  freedom  of  thought,  and  his  sympathy 
with  new  ideas  and  reforms,  checked  probably  in  some  measure 
by  his  association  with  conservative  teachers,  appear  thus  early 

1  Vol.  X.  pp.  227-237.  The  English  professor  died  shortly  after,  too  soon  to  read  this 
notice  of  his  lecture. 

2  Vol.  I.  §  23,  note. 

VOL.    i.  7 


98  MEMOIR   OF   CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1831-83. 

warm  and  active.1  His  intellect  lacked  subtlety  ;  it  was  generally 
repelled  by  abstruse  and  technical  questions,  and,  led  by  Story's 
example,  sought  the  more  congenial  domains  of  international  and 
commercial  law.  Some  of  his  surviving  fellow-students  recall 
that  he  was  not  thought  to  have  what  is  called  "  a  legal  mind ;  " 
though  Story  and  Greenleaf,  each  of  whom  counted  on  him  as 
colleague  or  successor,  do  not  appear  to  have  observed  this  de- 
fect. His  classmate  Browne  took  exception  at  the  time  to  his 
articles  in  the  "  Jurist,"  as  being  speculative  rather  than  practi- 
cal in  their  topics;  and  certainly  his  contributions  to  that  maga- 
zine, then  and  later,  show  that  he  preferred  to  write  upon  the 
literature  of  the  law  rather  than  upon  the  law  itself.  One  with 
his  qualities  of  mind  would  be  more  likely  to  find  his  place  in 
the  profession  as  author  or  teacher,  than  among  the  details  of 
office-business  or  the  hand-to-hand  contests  of  the  court-room. 

Contemporaneous  letters,  written  chiefly  by  his  classmates, 
show  his  habits  at  this  time,  and  the  expectations  entertained  as 
to  his  future.  His  father  wrote  to  him,  April  4,  1832,  "  Charles, 
while  you  study  law,  be  not  too  discursive.  Study  your  pre- 
scribed course  well.  That  is  enough  to  make  you  a  lawyer. 
You  may  bewilder  your  mind  by  taking  too  wide  a  range." 

Stearns,  in  a  similar  tone,  wrote,  Sept.  19,  1831,  "  You  were 
cut  out  for  a  lawyer.  ...  I  cannot  altogether  applaud  your  reso- 
lution to  include  so  much  in  your  system  of  study  for  the  coming 
year.  4  Law,  classics,  history,  and  literature '  is  certainly  too  wide 
a  range  for  any  common  mind  to  spread  over  at  one  time.  Better 
follow  Captain  Bobadil's  example ;  take  them  man  by  man,  and 
4  kill  them  all  up  by  computation.' '"  Hopkinson,  Jan.  6,  1832, 
calls  him  "  the  indefatigable,  ever-delving  student,  and  amorous 
votary  of  antiquity;"  and  refers,  May  12,  "to  the  study  and 
diligence  for  which  the  world  gives  you  credit." 

Browne  wrote  from  Cambridge  to  Stearns,  May  6,  1832 :  — 

"  We,  in  Cambridge  here,  are  studying  law  at  a  trot,  or  rather  I  should 
say,  reciting  it.  Some  study  hard,  —  among  them  your  good  friend  Charles, 
hater  of  mathematics;  but  as  to  your  other  friend  [himself],  he  studies  the 
books  but  little.  Sumner  will  be  a  vast  reservoir  of  law,  if  he  lives  to  be  at 
the  bar;  which,  if  you  take  the  bodings  of  a  harsh,  constant  cough  and  a 
most  pale  face,  mig-ht  seem  doubtful.  Yet  his  general  health  seems  perfect. 
He  eats  well,  sleeps  well,  and  so  through  all  the  functions  of  the  animal  man. 

1  Hopkinson  wrote,  Oct.  28,  1831,  taking  him  to  task  for  assuming  positions  because  of 
their  novelty,  and  for  depreciating  authority  and  prescription. 


JKt.  20-22.]  ADVICE   OF  FRIENDS.  99 

We  often  laugh  together  in  speaking  of  the  time  to  come,  when  I  tell  him  1  will 
send  to  him  for  law  when  I  have  a  case  to  look  up.  He  is  to  the  law  what 
he  used  to  be  to  history,  —  a  repertory  of  facts  to  which  we  might  all  resort. 
Let  him  speed  in  his  studies,  increase  in  the  color  of  his  cheeks,  expel  his 
cough  from  a  dominion  whose  title  is  almost  confirmed  by  prescription, 
and  he  will  hold  himself  higher  than  his  legal  brethren  by  the  head  and 
shoulders." 

Stearns  wrote  to  Sumner,  May  14  :  — 

"  Browne  tells  me  you  are  studying  law  with  all  the  zeal  and  ardor  of  a 
lover.  But  by  all  means  do  not  sacrifice  your  health.  You  must  take  care 
of  that.  You  owe  it  as  a  duty  to  yourself,  a  duty  to  your  friends  and  coun- 
try, a  duty  to  your  God.  It  will  be  too  late  to  think  of  this  when  disease  has 
taken  a  firm  grapple  on  the  body.  .  .  .  You  cannot  be  a  man  and  reach  the 
lawful  height  to  which  your  intellect  is  capable  of  being  raised,  unless  you 
carefully  watch  over  and  preserve  your  health.  You  may  think  these  remarks 
are  frivolous,  but  I  consider  them  as  serious  truths.  I  look  forward  to  the 
,  time,  if  you  do  not  kill  yourself  prematurely,  when  I  shall  see  you  a  decided, 
powerful  champion  of  the  cause  of  justice,  patriotism,  and  the  true  Christian 
faith." 

Hopkinson  wrote,  July  17 :  — 

"  Congratulations  are  matter  of  course;  but  I  hope  you  will  consider  it 
equally  a  matter  of  course  that  a  friend  should  feel  great  joy  in  your  success.1 
Your  pen  was  always  that  of  a  ready  writer,  once  indeed  racy  and  loose. 
But  words  were  always  your  obedient  slaves.  They  came  and  ranged  them- 
selves at  your  bidding;  nay,  seemed  often  to  outrun  your  swift  intent,  and 
marshal  you  the  way.  But  I  have  for  two  years  been  observing  your  pen  to 
grow  stiffer.  Your  crude  troops  have  been  growing  more  disciplined  and 
forming  in  straighter  lines,  till  you  have  a  numerous  and  well-ordered  army. 
...  Be  this  a  foretaste  of  many  successes  in  laudable  undertakings." 

Again,  on  July  30  :  — 

"  You  never  think  of  bodily  health.  Do  you  have  the  folly  to  spend  this 
vacation  in  poring?  For  shame !  Take  a  country  tour,  —  a  long  pedestrian 
tour.  It  will  be  the  best  way  to  further  your  intellectual  progress.  Give 
that  pallid  face  a  little  color,  those  lean  limbs  a  little  muscle,  and  the  bow 
of  your  mind  a  greater  elasticity." 

Again,  on  May  9,  1833,  Hopkinson  wrote  from  Lowell,  where 
he  was  practising  law  as  the  partner  of  Mr.  Luther  Lawrence  : 

"Had  I  but  your  application,  I  might  consider  myself  in  a  good  way. 
Not,  indeed,  that  I  could  grasp  such  honors  as  are  within  your  reach ;  not  that 
I  could  walk  over  the  heads  of  all  young  practitioners,  and  be  in  fact  a  coun- 
sellor during  my  attorneyship :  but  I  could  take  an  immediate  practice  and 

1  Bowdoin  prize. 


100  MEMOIR  OF   CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1831-33. 

profit.  Your  chance  at  Cambridge,  had  I  your  fitness  for  the  place,  would 
tempt  me  more  than  a  tour  to  Washington,  which  has  so  kindled  your  imagi- 
nation. .  .  .  As  to  your  despondency,  or  whatever  other  name  you  please  to 
give  it,  take  exercise !  —  exercise !  —  exercise !  —  and  it  will  vanish  like  the 
morning  dew. ' ' 

Henry  W.  Paine,  having  left  the  Law  School,  wrote  from 
Winslow,  Me.,  March  12,  1833:  — 

"  There  is  not  one  among  my  friends  in  whom  I  feel  a  more  lively  interest, 
whose  prosperity  would  more  essentially  contribute  to  my  happiness.  Be 
careful  of  your  health,  my  friend,  and  the  day  is  not  distant  when  I  shall 
have  the  proud  satisfaction  of  saying  that  *  Sumner  was  once  my  classmate.'  " 

Again,  on  May  25  :  — 

"  Since  my  last,  you  have  been  called  to  mourn  the  departure  of  poor 
Ashmun.  Indeed,  we  all  mourned  the  event;  but  you  must  have  felt  it  more 
sensibly  than  the  rest  of  us,  situated  so  near  him  as  you  were,  and  so  intimate 
with  him  as  you  had  been  for  the  past  two  years.  You  were  present,  too,  at 
the  last  solemn  scene,  performing  those  acts  of  kindness  which  you  must  now 
reflect  upon  with  satisfaction.  ...  If  you  could  realize  what  a  treat  is  one 
of  your  letters,  you  have  too  much  of  the  milk  of  human  kindness  to  with- 
hold the  favor.  I  seem  to  see  in  them  once  more  Old  Harvard,  and  to  be 
seated  again  in  the  librarian's  room  of  Dane  Law  College.  But  you  are  soon 
to  leave,  and  thus  the  strongest  chain  that  binds  me  to  the  '  sacred '  spot  is 
to  ,be  severed.  I  have  always  supposed  that  the  place  of  your  ultimate  des- 
tination was  certain.  Surely  you  cannot  hesitate.  You  were  made  for 
Boston.  There  your  talents  and  attainments  will  be  appreciated,  and  cannot 
fail  of  securing  you  that  reputation  which  all  who  know  you  would  rejoice  to 
see  you  attain.  But,  as  you  have  been  so  incessant  in  your  application,  I  am 
sincerely  concerned  for  your  health ;  and,  if  my  poor  advice  could  avail,  you 
would  spend  your  coming  vacation  in  journeying.  Come  '  down  East. ' 
Dismiss  your  books  and  the  toils  of  study.  You  may  think  this  '  interested 
advice; '  and  in  part  it  is,  though  not  wholly  so.  I  feel  it  would  be  beneficial 
to  you.     It  would  be  a  joyous  event  to  me." 

Hopkinson  wrote  from  Lowell,  July  13 :  — 

"  Dear  Charles,  —  I  regret  to  learn  that  you  are  to  stay  yet  a  term  fur- 
ther at  Cambridge,  for  I  had  calculated  on  your  coming  here  this  fall.  Yet 
nothing  is  so  like  yourself  as  to  stay  to  please  your  friend  [Judge  Story],  — 
and  such  a  friend !  I  most  earnestly  congratulate  you  on  having  gained  the 
confidence,  esteem,  and  friendship  of  that  truly  great  man.  It  will  fix  your 
life's  direction,  and  I  would  not  have  you  forego  the  advantages  which  that 
situation  and  that  intercourse  will  secure  to  you  for  my  pleasure  or  gratifica- 
tion. You  will  find  your  employment  probably  in  the  science  of  the  law, 
and  will  escape  its  drudgery." 


Mt.  20-22.]  INTEREST  IN  TEMPERANCE.  101 

In  March,  1833,  a  temperance  society  was  formed  in  the  col- 
lege, which  included  members  of  the  professional  schools,  as  well 
as  undergraduates.  It  was  a  period  of  special  interest  in  this 
reform.  The  pledge  of  this  society  admitted  the  use  of  wines, 
excluding  only  that  of  spirituous  liquors,  and  was  binding  only 
during  the  signer's  connection  with  the  college.  The  meeting 
for  organization  was  held  in  a  room  in  University  Hall,  which 
was  used  for  commons.1  Sumner  was  chosen  President ;  Abiel 
A.  Livermore,  of  the  Divinity  School,  Vice-President ;  and  Sam- 
uel Osgood,  of  the  Divinity  School,  Secretary.  Among  the 
members  of  the  Executive  Committee  were  Barzillai  Frost,  of 
the  Divinity  School,  and  Richard  H.  Dana,  Jr.,  of  the  Sopho- 
more Class.  Public  meetings  were  held  in  the  City  Hall,  or  one 
of  the  churches ;  at  one  of  which  Rev.  John  G.  Palfrey  delivered 
an  impressive  address,  still  well  remembered  for  its  effective  ref- 
erence to  graduates  of  the  college  who  had  fallen  victims  to  the 
vice.  He  then,  for  the  first  time,  met  Sumner,  who  presided; 
and  was  attracted  by  his  manly  presence  and  genial  smile.  In 
the  autumn  of  1833,  Sumner  invited  George  S.  Hillard  to  repeat 
before  the  society  a  temperance  lecture  which  he  had  delivered 
in  other  places. 

Rev.  A.  A.  Livermore,  of  Meadville,  Penn.,  a  living  officer  of 
the  society,  writes  :  — 

' '  A  peculiar  lif  e-and-death  earnestness  characterized  even  then  all  that 
Sumner  did  and  said.  His  voice  had  a  trumpet  tone,  and  he  was  a  good 
leader  to  rally  under;  but  temperance  was  not  popular." 

Rev.  Dr.  Osgood,  of  New  York,  also  writes :  — 

"  Sumner  was  then  a  law-student,  and  I  saw  a  good  deal  of  him.  He 
talked  much  of  ethics  and  international  law.  He  had  great  strength  of  con- 
viction on  ethical  subjects  and  decided  religious  principle ;  yet  he  was  little 
theological,  much  less  ecclesiastical." 

He  was  connected,  at  least  during  his  first  year  in  the  Law 
School,  with  a  debating  society,  and  bore  his  part  in  discussions 
which  related  to  the  utility  of  trial  by  jury  and  of  capital  punish- 
ment, and  the  value  of  lyceums.  He  was  not  fluent  in  speech, 
but  he  prepared  himself  with  care,  as  his  minutes  still  preserved 
show. 

One  attraction  at  this  time  proved  stronger  with  Sumner  than 

1  The  first  meeting  was  held  March  6,  and  the  officers  were  chosen  March  14.  "  Mer- 
cantile Journal,"  March  16,  1833. 


102  MEMOIR  OF   CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1831-33, 

even  his  books.  Miss  Frances  A.  Kemble,  the  daughter  of  Charles 
Kemble,  the  English  actor,  and  the  niece  of  Mrs.  Siddons,  came 
with  her  father  to  this  country  in  1832,  three  years  after  her 
debut  at  Covent  Garden  in  the  character  of  Juliet.  She  was  then 
but  twenty-one  years  old ;  and  her  youth  added  to  the  fascina- 
tion of  her  brilliant  talents.  Wherever  she  played,  her  acting 
was  greatly  admired ;  and  by  no-  class  so  much  as  by  students. 
After  fulfilling  engagements  in  New  York  and  other  cities,  she 
made  her  first  appearance  in  Boston  in  April,  1833.  Sumner 
was  an  enthusiast  in  his  devotion,  walking  again  and  again  to 
the  city  during  her  engagement  at  the  Tremont  Theatre,  wit- 
nessing her  acting  with  intense  admiration,  and  delighting  to 
talk  of  her  with  his  friends.1  He  did  not  know  her  personally 
at  this  time,  but  greatly  enjoyed  her  society  some  years  after- 
wards, during  a  visit  to  Berkshire  County. 

Sumner  visited,  while  a  student  in  the  Law  School,  but  few 
families.  He  was  a  welcome  guest  at  the  firesides  of  the  two 
professors,  and  Mrs.  Story  and  Mrs.  Greenleaf  took  an  interest 
in  him  almost  equal  to  that  of  their  husbands.  His  friendship 
with  the  family  of  President  Quincy,  which  began  at  this  period, 
remained  unbroken  through  life  ;  and  from  them,  in  all  the  vicis- 
situdes of  his  career,  he  never  failed  to  receive  hearty  sympathy 
and  support.  While  he  entered  sympathetically  into  the  house- 
hold life  of  his  friends,  he  was,  at  this  period,  —  which  is  marked 
by  an  absorbing,  almost  ascetic,  devotion  to  the  pursuit  of  knowl- 
edge,—  indifferent  to  the  society  of  ladies  whose  charms  were 
chiefly  those  of  person  and  youth  ;  and  his  preference  for  the 
conversation  of  scholarly  persons  gave  at  times  much  amuse- 
ment to  others ;  but,  as  some  lifelong  friendships  attest,  no  one 
was  ever  more  appreciative  of  women  of  superior  refinement  and 
excellence. 

Mrs.  Waterston,  a  daughter  of  President  Quincy,  writes :  — 

"  Charles  Sumner  entered  his  Senior  year  in  1830.  The  son  of  an  old 
friend  of  my  father's,  he  must  have  had  an  early  invitation  to  our  house. 
The  first  distinct  remembrance  I  have  of  him  personally  was  on  one  of  my 
mother's  reception  evenings,  held  every  Thursday  during  the  winter,  and 

1  Browne  wrote,  April  18,  "  You  speak  rapturously  of  the  girl."  Judge  Story's  enthu- 
siasm for  Miss  Kemble  quite  equalled  Sumner's.  He  was  charmed  with  her  acting,  and 
addressed  some  verses  to  her :  — 

"  Go !  lovely  woman,  go !     Enjoy  thy  fame ! 
A  second  Kemble,  with  a  deathless  name." 

Life  and  Letters,  Vol.  II.  pp.  114- 117. 


jEt.  20-22.]         FRIENDSHIP  OF  THE   QUINCY  FAMILY.  103 

open  to  all  acquaintances  and  the  students.  I  was  standing  at  the  end  of  one 
of  the  long,  old-fashioned  rooms,  and  saw,  among  a  crowd  of  half-grown 
youths  and  towering  above  them,  the  tall,  spare  form  and  honest  face  of 
Charles  Sumner.  Years  after  we  recalled  that  evening;  and  from  his  won- 
derful memory  he  mentioned  a  little  fact.  '  A  three-cornered  note  was 
brought  to  you,'  said  he,  '  and  you  said  to  the  gentlemen  round  you,  "it  is 
from  Miss  M. ;  she  cannot  be  here  this  evening."  '  '  Why  were  you  not  intro- 
duced to  me?  '  said  I.  '  Oh,  I  did  not  dare  to  be;  I  only  looked  at  you  from 
afar  with  awe.'  I  was,  in  fact,  a  year  younger  than  himself;  but  in  those 
simple  days  the  chasm  was  wide  between  a  raw  collegian,  as  he  then  was, 
and  a  young  lady  in  society.  I  recall  him  very  distinctly  in  his  seat  on  Sun- 
days. It  was  in  the  old  chapel  in  University  Hall,  before  any  alteration  had 
been  made.  The  President's  pew  was  in  the  gallery,  on  the  right  of  the 
pulpit.  Perched  there,  I  looked  down,  first  on  good  Dr.  Ware,  Sr.,  in  his 
professor's  gown;  and,  while  he  discoursed  'furthermore,'  I  looked  beyond 
and  below  on  the  very  young  Sophomores,  and  saw  Sumner's  long  propor- 
tions in  the  front  seat  of  the  Seniors. 

' '  It  was  during  his  residence  as  a  law-student  that  he  was  most  frequently 
at  our  house.  I  do  not  think  he  ever  sought  ladies'  society  much,  though  I 
remember  we  always  enjoyed  his  conversation,  and  that  my  mother  foresaw 
a  future  for  Charles  Sumner.  It  was  during  his  law-studies  that  Judge  Story 
and  my  father  recognized  his  uncommon  abilities.  On  one  of  those  memo- 
rable Sunday  evenings,  when  the  judge,  seated  by  my  mother,  drew  all 
present  around  them,  he  spoke  of  Sumner,  and  said:  '  He  has  a  wonderful 
memory;  he  keeps  all  his  knowledge  in  order,  and  can  put  his  hand  on  it  in 
a  moment.  '  This  is  a  great  gift.'  On  July  28,  1833,  the  new  First  Parish 
church  was  in  progress;  and  the  steeple,  after  being  finished  inside,  was  to 
be  raised  entire  and  placed  on  the  tower.  I  give  an  extract  from  my  jour- 
nal: 'We  sent  Horace  to  ask  Mr.  Sumner,  the  law-student,  to  let  us  come 
over  to  the  Law  School  and  see  the  raising.  In  a  few  moments,  mamma, 
Margaret,  and  myself  were  joined  by  Mr.  Sumner,  who  escorted  us  not  only 
to  the  Law  School,  but  all  over  the  building,  even  into  his  own  room,  as, 
being  librarian,  he  lives  there.  This  youth,  though  not  in  the  least  hand- 
some, is  so  good-hearted,  clever,  and  real,  that  it  is  impossible  not  to  like 
him  and  believe  in  him.  Judge  and  Mrs.  Story  and  several  other  ladies 
joined  us,  and  we  sat  on  the  portico;  for  Judge  Story,  fearing  some  accident 
would  occur,  would  not  let  any  of  us  go  over  to  the  church  to  see  how  the 
raising  was  managed.  The  steeple  went  up  so  slowly  that  mamma  and  my 
sister  could  not  wait  for  it ;  but  I  staid  with  Mrs.  Story  until  it  rose  to  its  full 
height  and  was  safely  moored  on  the  tower.  Mr.  Sumner  walked  home  with 
me  arm  in  arm.'  This  latter  clause  is  underlined,  as  I  suppose  it  was  a  very 
remarkable  attention ;  at  least  he  had  now  no  '  awe  '  of  the  young  lady. 

"  It  was  in  the  preceding  April,  1833,  that  John  Hooker  Ashmun  died,  — 
the  Boyall  Professor  of  Law,  —  and  Sumner  must  have  been  present  at  Judge 
Story's  eulogy  on  Mr.  Ashmun.  In  my  journal  of  that  day  I  write:  '  After 
the  services  closed  and  the  men  came  forward  to  remove  the  body,  a  number 
of  Mr.  Ashmun's  students,  as  if  moved  by  an  irresistible  impulse,  pressed 


104  MEMOIR  OF  CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1831-33. 

forward  and  surrounded  him  for  the  last  time.     They  were  to  see  his  face  no 
more.' 

"Mr.  Alvord  took  Mr.  Ashmun's  place  as  professor,  but,  in  the  summer 
of  1833,  he  also  was  taken  very  ill.  During  the  weeks  after  the  notice  of  the 
steeple-raising,  I  find  Mr.  Sumner's  name  mentioned  constantly,  coming  in 
to  report  Mr.  Alvord's  state,  as  he  visited  him  daily.  One  extract  more  from 
the  journal:  '  Charles  Sumner  came  to  give  his  account  of  Mr.  Alvord,  which 
is  more  favorable.  He  paid  me  a  long  visit,  and  we  tailed  at  the  rate  of  nine 
knots  an  hour.  He  gave  a  curious  account  of  a  youi  g  man  who  has  been 
studying  Latin  and  Greek  in  a  lighthouse,  to  prepare  for  college.  The  reason 
of  his  choosing  a  lighthouse  is  to  save  the  expense  of  oil !  We  agreed  that 
he  deserved  all  success.  Mamma  returned  from  Dedham  while  Mr.  Sumner 
was  still  here,  and  he  staid  and  had  a  good  long  talk  with  her.'  " 

His  classmate,  Rev.  Dr.  Emery,  writes :  — 

"  In  Oct.,  1833,  I  returned  to  Cambridge  and  became  a  resident  graduate. 
I  found  Sumner  in  the  Law  School,  pursuing  his  studies  with  great  enthu- 
siasm, and  we  were  often  in  each  other's  rooms.  He  was  the  same  scholarly 
person  then  as  when  in  college,  and  he  lived,  as  it  were,  in  intimate  converse 
with  the  learned  of  ancient  and  modern  times.  I  have  no  doubt  his  mind 
was  better  stored  with  accurate  and  critical  knowledge  than  that  of  any  other 
student  in  the  school.  He  occupied  as  librarian  one  of  the  front  rooms  in  the 
second  story  of  Dane  Hall,  'the  pleasantest  room  in  Cambridge,'  as  he  told 
me.  If  he  had  at  that  time  any  thought  of  being  one  of  the  foremost  public 
men  in  the  country  beyond  that  of  an  eminent  lawyer,  he  certainly  kept  it  to 
himself,  for  he  seemed  to  take  but  little  interest  in  political  matters.  He 
came  one  day  to  my  room  in  Massachusetts  Hall,  and  told  me  how  he  had 
unfortunately  just  congratulated  a  professor,  recently  resigned,  on  his  election 
to  the  State  Senate,  not  knowing  that  he  had  been  defeated.  His  mind  was 
wholly  absorbed  in  other  pursuits,  which,  perhaps  unconsciously  to  himself, 
were  preparing  him  for  the  lofty  stand  he  attained  in  after  life." 

Professor  William  C.  Russell,  of  Cornell  University,  who  saw 
much  of  Sumner  at  Cambridge  in  1832-33,  writes  :  — 

"  He  was  a  tall,  thin,  bent,  ungainly  law-student;  his  eyes  were  inflamed 
by  late  reading,  and  his  complexion  showed  that  he  was  careless  of  exercise. 
I  was  from  New  York,  and  he  had  less  experience  of  life ;  and  from  that  cause, 
I  suppose,  liked  to  talk  to  me.  He  certainly  was  very  kind,  very  simple,  and 
very  easily  pleased.  I  rather  think,  however,  that  I  owed  a  great  deal  of 
the  kindness  with  which  he  treated  me  to  the  fact  that  I  was  personally  ac- 
quainted, though  very  slightly,  with  '  Fanny  Kemble,'  as  we  boys  used  to 
call  her.  He  was,  as  much  as  any  of  us,  infatuated  by  her  acting;  and  I 
remember  his  one  day  stopping  me  in  the  street,  and  drawing  me  out  of  the 
thoroughfare,  and  saying,  '  Come,  Russell,  tell  me  something  about  Fanny 
Kemble,'  with  all  the  interest  of  a  lover. 

"  His  personal  kindness  never  ceased  while  I  remained  at  Cambridge,  and 


Mi.  20-22.]  VISITS  AT  JUDGE   STORY'S.  105 

he  helped  me  on  one  occasion  when  I  needed  a  friend,  with  the  tenderness  of 
a  girl.  When  I  left,  in  1834,  to  no  one  of  the  friends  whom  I  had  gained 
there  was  I  more  attached. ' ' 

A  lady,  then  a  fiancee  of  one  of  his  most  intimate  classmates, 
writes :  — 

"  As  a  young  law-student,  I  remember  very  well  the  first  impression  he 
made  upon  me  of  a  certain  dignity  and  strength,  which  supplied  the  want  of 
grace,  and  which  was  as  perceptible  in  his  conversation  as  in  his  person. 
You  would  have  said  then  that  he  was  a  man  of  ideas,  and  that  the  ideas  of 
other  people  would  never  be  trammels,  only  steps,  for  him." 

William  W.  Story  writes  from  Rome  :  — 

"  I  was  a  mere  boy  when  I  first  knew  him,  but  the  affectionate  kindness 
which  he  then  showed  me  remained  unclouded  by  the  slightest  shadow  until 
the  day  of  his  death.  His  father  was  in  a  class  two  years  before  my  father  at 
Harvard;  and  when  Charles  Sumner  entered  the  Law  School,  my  father  took 
an  interest  in  him  at  first,  because  of  his  father,  and  this  interest  soon  ripened 
into  a  warm  affection.  My  first  recollections  of  him  are  at  this  period.  He 
used  to  come  to  our  house  some  two  or  three  evenings  in  the  week,  and  to  his 
long  conversations  I  used  to  listen  night  after  night  with  eager  pleasure.  His 
simplicity  and  directness  of  character,  his  enthusiasm  and  craving  for  informa- 
tion, his  lively  spirit  and  genial  feeling,  immediately  made  a  strong  impres- 
sion on  me.  My  father  was  very  fond  of  him,  always  received  him  with  a 
beaming  face,  and  treated  him  almost  as  if  he  were  a  son;  and  we  were  all 
delighted  to  welcome  him  to  our  family  circle.  He  was  free,  natural,  and 
naive  in  his  simplicity,  and  plied  my  father  with  an  ever-flowing  stream  of 
questions;  and  I  need  not  say  that  the  responses  were  as  full  and  genial  as 
heart  and  mind  could  desire.  When  I  heard  that  he  was  in  the  room,  I 
quitted  all  occupations  to  see  and  hear  him,  though  for  the  most  part  I  only 
played  the  role  of  listener.  When  other  persons  came  in,  he  would  turn 
to  me  and  make  inquiries  as  to  my  studies,  and  endeavor  to  help  me  in  them ; 
and  at  last,  out  of  pure  good  nature,  he  proposed  to  me  to  come  to  his  room 
in  the  Dane  Law  College,  and  read  Latin  with  him  and  talk  over  the  ancient 
authors.  I  gladly  accepted  the  offer,  and  many  an  evening  I  used  to  spend 
with  him  in  half  study,  half  talk.  He  had  the  art  to  render  these  evenings 
most  agreeable.  He  talked  of  Cicero  and  Caesar;  of  Horace,  Virgil,  Tacitus, 
Sallust,  and  indeed  of  all  the  old  Latin  writers;  of  the  influence  they  had 
on  their  age,  and  their  age  had  on  them;  of  the  characteristics  of  their  po- 
etry and  prose ;  of  the  peculiarities  of  their  style ;  of  the  differences  between 
them  and  our  modern  authors :  and  he  so  talked  of  them  as  to  interest  and 
amuse  me,  and  bring  them  before  me  as  real  and  living  persons  out  of  the 
dim,  vague  mist  in  which  they  had  hitherto  stood  in  my  mind.  We  used 
then,  also,  to  cap  Latin  verses;  and  he  so  roused  my  ambition  not  to  be  out- 
done by  him  that  I  collected  from  various  authors  a  book  full  of  verses,  all 
oi  which  I  committed  to  memory.     Of  course  he  beat  me  always,  for  he  had 


106  MEMOIR   OF  CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1831-83 

a  facile  and  iron  memory  which  easily  seized  and  steadily  retained  every 
thing  he  acquired. 

"  English  poetry  was  also  a  constant  subject  of  our  talks;  and  he  used  to 
quote  and  read  favorite  passages  which  we  earnestly  discussed  together. 
Among  all  the  poets,  at  this  time  certainly,  Gray  was  his  favorite;1  and  I 
have  still  a  copy  of  his  poems,  presented  to  me  by  him,  and  full  of  annota- 
tions, many  of  which  are  due  to  these  conversations.  I  shall  never  cease 
to  feel  grateful  to  him  for  these  happy  -evenings,  so  full  of  interest  and 
instruction. 

"  Then,  as  afterwards,  his  judgment  in  respect  to  poetry  was  not  a  keen 
one.  The  higher  nights  of  the  imagination,  or  the  rapid  ranges  of  fancy, 
were  above  him ;  and  I  think  his  noblest  idea  of  poetry  was  embodied  in 
Gray's  'Elegy,'  which  he  would  repeat  with  sonorous  tones.  But  poetry 
was  with  him  more  an  acquired  taste  than  a  natural  one.  He  had  himself 
little  imagination  or  fancy,  and  better  loved  strong  manly  sentiments  and 
thoughts  within  the  range  of  the  understanding,  and  solid  facts  and  state- 
ments of  principles.  When  he  could  steady  himself  against  a  statement  by 
an  ancient  author  he  felt  strong.  His  own  moral  sense,  which  was  very  high, 
seemed  to  buttress  itself  with  a  passage  from  Cicero  or  Epictetus.  He  seemed 
to  build  upon  them  as  upon  a  rock,  and  thence  defy  you  to  shake  him. 

"  He  was  then,  as  ever  in  after  life,  an  indefatigable  and  omnivorous  stu- 
dent. He  lived  simply,  was  guilty  of  no  excesses  of  any  kind,  went  very 
little  into  society,  and  devoted  his  days  and  nights  to  books.  Shortly  after 
my  first  acquaintance  with  him,  he  became  librarian  of  the  Dane  Law  School, 
and  I  think  there  was  scarcely  a  text-book  in  the  library  of  the  contents  of 
which  he  had  not  some  knowledge.  Nor  was  this  a  superficial  knowledge, 
considering  its  extent  and  his  youth.  He  had  acquainted  himself,  also,  with 
the  lives,  characters,  and  capacity  of  most  of  the  authors,  and  could  give  a 
fair  resume  of  the  contents  of  most  of  their  works.  His  room  was  piled  with 
books :  the  shelves  overflowed  and  the  floor  was  littered  with  them.  Though 
a  devoted  student  of  law,  he  did  not  limit  his  reading  to  it,  but  ranged  over 
the  whole  field  of  literature  with  eager  interest.  He  was  at  this  time  totally 
without  vanity,  and  only  desirous  to  acquire  knowledge  and  information  on 
j  every  subject.  Behind  every  work  he  liked  to  see  and  feel  the  man  who  wrote 
it,  and,  as  it  were,  to  make  his  personal  acquaintance.  Whenever  a  partic- 
ular question  interested  him,  he  would  come  to  my  father  and  talk  it  over 
with  him,  and  discuss  it  by  the  hour. 

"  He  had  no  interest  in  games  and  athletic  sports;  never,  so  far  as  I  know, 
fished  or  shot  or  rowed;  had  no  fancy  for  dogs  and  horses;  and,  in  a  word,  was 
without  all  those  tastes  which  are  almost  universal  with  men  of  his  age.  As 
for  dancing,  I  think  he  never  danced  a  step  in  his  life.  Of  all  men  I  ever 
knew  at  his  age,  he  was  the  least  susceptible  to  the  charms  of  women.  Men 
he  liked  best,  and  with  them  he  preferred  to  talk.  It  was  in  vain  for  the 
loveliest  and  liveliest  girl  to  seek  to  absorb  his  attention.     He  would  at  once 

1  W.  W.  Story  gave  Sumner,  Jan.  1,  1834,  a  copy  of  Milton,  inscribed  with,  "  Froii  b  is 
grateful  friend." 


JEt.  20-22.J  CONVERSATION  AND  TERSON.  107 

desert  the  most  blooming  beauty  to  talk  to  the  plainest  of  men.  This  was  a 
constant  source  of  amusement  to  us,  and  we  used  to  lay  wagers  with  the 
pretty  girls,  that  with  all  their  art  they  could  not  keep  him  at  their  side  a 
quarter  of  an  hour.  Nor  do  I  think  we  ever  lost  one  of  these  bets.  I  remem- 
ber particularly  one  dinner  at  my  father's  house,  when  it  fell  to  his  lot  to 
take  out  a  charming  woman,  so  handsome  and  full  of  esprit  that  any  one  at  the 
table  might  well  have  envied  him  his  position.  She  had  determined  to  hold 
him  captive,  and  win  her  bet  against  us.  But  her  efforts  were  all  in  vain. 
Unfortunately,  on  his  other  side  was  a  dry  old  savant,  packed  with  informa- 
tion; and  within  five  minutes  Sumner  had  completely  turned  his  back  on 
his  fair  companion,  and  engaged  in  a  discussion  with  the  other,  which 
lasted  the  whole  dinner.  We  all  laughed.  She  cast  up  her  eyes  depre- 
catingly,  acknowledged  herself  vanquished,  and  paid  her  bet.  Meantime, 
Sumner  was  wholly  unconscious  of  the  jest  or  of  the  laughter.  He  had 
what  he  wanted, — sensible  men's  talk.  He  had  mined  the  savant  as  he 
mined  every  one  he  met,  in  search  of  ore,  and  was  thoroughly  pleased  with 
what  he  got. 

"  Though  he  was  an  interesting  talker,  he  had  no  lightness  of  hand.  He 
was  kindly  of  nature,  interested  in  every  thing,  but  totally  put  off  his  balance 
by  the  least  persiflage ;  and,  if  it  was  tried  on  him,  his  expression  was  one  of 
complete  astonishment.  He  was  never  ready  at  a  retort,  tacked  slowly,  like 
a  frigate  when  assaulted  by  stinging  feluccas,  and  was  at  this  time  almost 
impervious  to  a  joke.  He  had  no  humor  himself,  and  little  sense  of  it  in 
others;  and  his  jests,  when  he  tried  to  make  one,  were  rather  cumbrous. 
But  in  '  plain  sailing '  no  one  could  be  better  or  more  agreeable.  He  was 
steady  and  studious,  and,  though  genial,  serious  in  his  character;  while  we 
were  all  light,  silly,  and  full  of  animal  spirits,  which  he  sympathized  with 
but  could  not  enter  into. 

"  He  was,  as  a  young  man,  singularly  plain.  His  complexion  was  not 
healthy.  He  was  tall,  thin,  and  ungainly  in  his  movements,  and  sprawled 
rather  than  sat  on  a  chair  or  sofa.  Nothing  saved  his  face  from  ugliness  but 
his  white  gleaming  teeth  and  his  expression  of  bright  intelligence  and  entire 
amiability.  None  could  believe  that  he  was  thus  plain  in  his  youth,  who 
only  knew  him  in  his  full  and  ripened  manhood.  As  years  went  on,  his  face 
and  figure  completely  changed ;  and  at  last  he  stood  before  us  a  stalwart  and 
imposing  presence,  full  of  dignity  and  a  kind  of  grandeur.  Age  added  to  his 
appeaiance  as  well  as  to  his  influence.  His  genial  illuminating  smile  he 
never  lost;  and  at  fifty  years  of  age  he  was  almost  a  handsome,  and  cer- 
tainly a  remarkable,  man  in  his  bearing  and  looks. 

"Ido  not  think,  in  his  early  years,  he  had  any  great  ambition.  That  de- 
veloped itself  afterwards.  Circumstances  and  accidents  forced  him  forward 
to  the  van,  and  he  became  a  leader  terribly  in  earnest.  He  had  the  same 
high-mindedness,  the  same  single  aim  at  justice  and  truth,  the  same  inflexi- 
ble faith  and  corn-age  then  that  ever  after  characterized  him."  1 

1  Mr.  Story  contributed  an  "In  Memoriam"  tribute  to  Sumner,  in  forty-one  verses,  to 
Blackwood's  Magazine,"  Sept.,  1874,  Vol.  CXVI.  pp.  342-346. 


108  MEMOIR   OF   CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1831-33. 

In  an  address  to  the  students  —  colored  —  of  Howard  Univer- 
sity, Washington,  D.  C,  Feb.  3,  1871,  Sumner  said:  — 

These  exercises  "  carry  me  back  to  early  life,  when  I  was  a  student  of  the 
Law  School  of  Harvard  University  as  you  have  been  students  in  the  Law 
School  of  Howard  University.  I  cannot  think  of  those  days  without  fond- 
ness. They  were  the  happiest  of  my  life.  .  .  .  There  is  happiness  in  the 
acquisition  of  knowledge,  which  surpasses  all  common  joys.  The  student 
who  feels  that  he  is  making  daily  progress,  constantly  learning  something 
new,  —  who  sees  the  shadows  by  which  he  was  originally  surrounded  grad- 
ually exchanged  for  an  atmosphere  of  light,  —  cannot  fail  to  be  happy.  His 
toil  becomes  a  delight,  and  all  that  he  learns  is  a  treasure,  —  with  this  differ- 
ence from  gold  and  silver,  that  it  cannot  be  lost.  It  is  a  perpetual  capital  at 
compound  interest." 


LETTERS   TO   CLASSMATES. 


TO  JONATHAN  F.   STEARNS,   BEDFORD,   MASS. 

Sunday,  Sept.  25,  1831.    Div.  10. 

To  Cambridge,1  —  your  missile  hit  the  mark;  though,  from  its  early  date 
and  late  coming,  one  would  think  that  the  post-office  powder  was  not  of  the 
best  proof .  To  Cambridge,  —  yes;  it  has  come  to  me  here  —  Law  School. 
Yester  afternoon  presented  me  with  it,  as  I  looked  in  at  the  office  on  my 
return  from  sweet  Auburn,  where  Judge  Story  had  been,  in  Nature's  temple, 
set  around  with  her  own  green  and  hung  over  with  her  own  blue,  dedicating 
to  the  dead  a  place  well  worthy  of  their  repose.  The  general  subject  was  the 
claims  of  the  dead  for  a  resting-place  amongst  kindred ;  the  fondness  of  their 
living  friends  for  seemly  sepulchres  in  which  to  bury  them,  and  where  a  tear 
can  be  shed  unseen  but  by  the  waving  grass  or  sighing  trees;  and  the 
customs  of  nations  in  honors  to  the  dead,  —  all  naturally  arising  from  the 
occasion.2 

Your  objections  to  the  Anti-masonic  party,  and  not  to  Anti-masonry,  are 
perhaps  good,  though  rather  too  strong.  What  party  ever  showed  uniform 
placidness;  and  especially  what  young  party?  The  blood  is  too  warm  to 
beat  slowly  or  healthfully;  sores  and  ulcers  show  themselves.  And  so  it  is 
with  Anti-masonry.  Some  there  are  with  more  zeal  than  knowledge,  and 
whose  rabid  philosophy  will  not  suffer  them  to  judge  in  candor  and  truth. 
They  strain  the  principles  of  their  party  to  such  a  tension  that  they  almost 
crack  (as  in  the  case  you  instanced) ;  but  pray  set  this  down  to  the  infirmity 

1  Stearns,  not  knowing  where  Sumner  was,  wrote,  Sept.  18,  "Where  art  thou?  At 
Cambridge,  I  presume." 

2  An  account  of  the  services  at  the  consecration  of  the  Mt.  Auburn  Cemetery,  with  ex- 
tracts from  Judge  Story's  address,  is  given  in  his  "Life  and  Letters,"  Vol.  II.  pp.  61-67. 


JEr.  20-22.]  EMPLOYMENT  OF  TIME.  109 

of  man.  They,  poor  men,  have  their  consciences  on  their  side;  and  with 
that  ally  need  we  admire  that  they  are  insensible  to  those  feelings  which 
would  make  them  stop?  For  myself,  my  mind  is  made  up:  I  shall  never 
give  back.  Yet  may  this  hand  forget  its  cunning,  if  ever  aught  shall  come 
from  me  savoring  of  intolerance  or  unwarrantable  exclusion.  I  have  been 
scourged  into  my  present  opinions  by  the  abuse  which  my  father  has  met 
with,  —  namely,  my  mind  was  brought  by  this  to  see  what  Masonry  did,  and 
to  inquire  what  it  could  do.  Anti-masonry  has  rather  a  ridiculous,  repulsive 
air,  of  which  no  one  is  more  conscious  than  myself;  and  had  not  the  circum- 
stances of  my  father's  relation  to  it  brought  me  into  close  contact  (almost 
perforce)  with  it,  I  should  probably  have  been  an  unbeliever  to  this  day. 
Anti-masonry  cannot  claim  its  due  proportion  of  talent  for  the  numbers  of  its 
professors;  and  there  is  nothing  strange  in  this,  for  it  is  new.  The  religion 
you  profess  drew  to  it  none  but  fishermen  when  it  first  came  down  with 
the  Son  of  the  Father.  Truth  always  walks  lame  when  she  first  starts.  It 
is  time  which  habits  her  in  the  wings  that  bear  her  upward.  I  have  said 
more  upon  this  than  I  wished  to ;  for  I  care  not  to  have  it  in  my  mind.  I 
feel  so  strongly  upon  it,  that  when  it  is  called  before  me  my  mind  engages 
itself  too  much,  to  the  detriment  of  more  profitable  thoughts. 

Come  to  Cambridge  and  see  me.  I  room  at  Divinity  Hall,  No.  10,  on 
the  lower  floor;  and  you  shall  have  half  of  the  couch  which  is  mine.  Come, 
and  we  will  have  an  evening's  chat.  You  will  not  disturb  me;  for,  though  I 
try  to  seize  every  moment  of  time,  yet  our  law-studies  are  so  indefinite  that  no 
number  of  hours  cut  out  will  be  missed.  We  recite  but  three  times  a  week ; 
and  one  forenoon  will  master  our  lesson,  though  days  can  be  given  to  it  with 
profit.  Come,  then,  and  bring  with  you  "The  Nine"  book,  and  Browne 
and  yourself  and  myself  will  renew  old  scenes  and  live  happy  times  over 
again.  I  like  living  here,  for  I  can  be  by  myself.  I  know  hardly  an  indi- 
vidual in  the  school.  Days  of  idleness  must  be  atoned  for ;  the  atoning  offer- 
ing is  at  hand,  and  it  is  a  steady  devotion  to  study.  Late  to  bed  and  early  to 
rise,  and  full  employment  while  up,  is  what  I  am  trying  to  bind  myself  to. 
The  labor  ipse  voluptas  I  am  coveting.  I  had  rather  be  a  toad  and  live  upon 
a  dungeon's  vapor  than  one  of  those  lumps  of  flesh  that  are  christened  law- 
yers, and  who  know  only  how  to  wring  from  quibbles  and  obscurities  that 
justice  which  else  they  never  could  reach ;  who  have  no  idea  of  law  beyond 
its  letter,  nor  of  literature  beyond  their  Term  Reports  and  Statutes.  If  I  am 
a  lawyer,  I  wish  to  be  one  who  can  dwell  upon  the  vast  heaps  of  law-matter, 
as  the  temple  in  which  the  majesty  of  right  has  taken  its  abode;  who  will 
aim,  beyond  the  mere  letter,  at  the  spirit, — the  broad  spirit  of  the  law, — 
and  who  will  bring  to  his  aid  a  liberal  and  cultivated  mind.  Is  not  this  an 
honest  ambition?  If  not,  reprove  me  for  it.  A  lawyer  is  one  of  the  best  or 
worst  of  men,  according  as  he  shapes  his  course.  He  may  breed  strife,  and 
he  may  settle  dissensions  of  years.  But  when  I  look  before  me  and  above 
me,  and  see  the  impendent  weight,  —  molem  ingentem  et  perpetuis  humeris  sus- 
tinendamy  —  I  incontinently  shrink  back.  Book  peers  above  book ;  and  one 
labor  of  investigation  is  gone  only  to  show  a  greater  one.  The  greatest  law- 
yers, after  fifty  years  of  enfolding  study,  have  confessed,  with  the  Wise  Man, 


110  MEMOIR  OF   CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1831-33. 

that  they  only  knew  that  they  knew  nothing.  And  what  a  discomfiting 
expression  is  here,  that  all  the  piled-up  grains  of  human  wisdom  will  raise 
one  not  at  all  from  this  earth ;  that  he  may  labor  and  heap  his  acquirements, 
and  yet  they  are  as  nothing !  He  begins  with  nothing,  and  ends  where  he 
began.  If  it  is  so,  yet  knowledge  and  acquirements  are  relative ;  and  the 
man  who  knows  that  he  knows  nothing  is  yet  more  wise  than  the  herd  of 
his  fellow-men,  —  even  as  much  more  wise,  as  wisdom  itself  is  wiser  than  he 
is.  And  here  is  the  place  for  hope,  —  though  we  cannot  mount  to  the  skies 
or  elevate  ourself  from  mother  earth,  yet  can  we  reach  far  above  those  around 
us,  and  look  with  a  far  keener  gaze.  "  What  man  has  done,  man  can  do;  " 
and  in  these  words  is  a  full  fountain  of  hope.  And  again,  hear  Burke: 
"  There  is  nothing  in  the  world  really  beneficial  that  does  not  lie  within  the 
reach  of  an  informed  understanding  and  a  well-directed  pursuit.  There  is 
nothing  that  God  has  judged  good  for  us  that  He  has  not  given  us  the  means 
to  accomplish,  both  in  the  natural  and  the  moral  world. ' ' x  What  a  sentiment ! 
how  rich  in  expression,  how  richer  in  truth! 

A  lawyer  must  know  every  thing.  He  must  know  law,  history,  philosophy, 
human  nature;  and,  if  he  covets  the  fame  of  an  advocate,  he  must  drink  of 
all  the  springs  of  literature,  giving  ease  and  elegance  to  the  mind  and  illus- 
tration to  whatever  subject  it  touches.  So  experience  declares,  and  reflection 
bears  experience  out. 

I  have  not  yet  methodized  my  time,  —  and,  by  the  way,  method  is  the  life 
of  study,  — but  I  think  of  something  like  the  following:  The  law  in  the  fore- 
noon; six  hours  to  law  is  all  that  Coke  asks  for  (sex  horas  des  legibus  cequis), 
and  Matthew  Hale  and  Sir  William  Jones  and  all  who  have  declared  an  opin- 
ion; though,  as  to  that  matter,  I  should  be  influenced  little  more  than  a  tittle 
by  any  opinions  of  others.2  We  all  of  us  must  shape  our  own  courses;  no  two 
men  will  like  the  same  hours  or  manner  of  study.  Let  each  one  assist  him- 
self from  the  experience  of  others ;  but  let  him  not  put  aside  his  own  judg- 
ment. AVell,  six  hours, — namely,  the  forenoon  wholly  and  solely  to  law; 
afternoon  to  classics;  evening  to  history,  subjects  collateral  and  assistant  to 
law,  &c.  I  have  as  yet  read  little  else  than  law  since  I  have  been  here ;  but 
the  above  is  the  plan  I  have  chalked  out.  Recreation  must  not  be  found  in 
idleness  or  loose  reading.  "  Le  changement  d' occupation  est  mon  seul  delasse- 
ment,"  says  Chancellor  D'Aguesseau,  one  of  the  greatest  lawyers  France 
ever  saw. 

And  now  have  I  blackened  enough  paper?  Have  you  read  to  this  spot? 
If  you  have,  you  are  a  well-doing  servant,  and  shalt  surely  have  your  reward. 
But  pray  visit  upon  these  sheets  the  heretic's  fate,  —  fire,  fire,  fire.  And 
now  I  stop.     "  Dabit  deus  his  quoque  finem."  8 

Your  true  friend,  C.  S. 

1  Speech  on  the  "Plan  for  Economical  Reform." 

2  The  authority  of  these  eminent  jurists  as  to  the  distribution  of  the  hours  of  the  day  is 
cited  in  Mr.  Sumner's  lecture  on  "The  Employment  of  Time,"  delivered  in  1846.  This 
lecture  may  be  read  with  interest  in  connection  with  the  letters  of  this  period,  which  empha- 
size the  value  of  time.     Works,  Vol.  I.  pp.  184-213. 

8  Virgil,  ^Eneid  I.  199. 


JEt.  20-22.1         ARDOR  FOR  HIS   CHOSEN  PROFESSION.  Ill 

TO  CHARLEMAGNE  TOWER,  WATERVILLE,  N.  Y. 

Law  School,  Divinity  Hall,  No.  10,  Sept.  29,  1831. 

A  new  curtain  has  arisen.  I  am  treading  another  scene  of  life.  I  behold 
new  objects  of  study,  and  am  presented  with  new  sources  of  reflection.  I 
have  left  Boston  and  the  profitless  thoughts  which  its  streets,  its  inhabitants, 
its  politics,  and  its  newspapers  ever  excite.  I  find  myself  again  in  loved 
Cambridge,  where  are  sociability  and  retirement,  and  where  those  frittering 
cares  and  thoughts  which  every  city  inflicts  upon  its  unlucky  sojourners  do 
not  intrude.  I  feel  differently,  very  differently,  from  what  I  did  when  I 
enjoyed  this  town,  in  all  the  nonchalance  of  an  undergraduate,  heedless  of 
time, — that  property  more  valuable  than  silver  and  gold,  —  and  seeking,  in 
the  main,  a  pleasant  way  to  throw  away  hours  and  minutes.  I  now  feel  that 
every  moment,  like  a  filing  of  gold,  ought  to  be  saved.  But  in  the  acting  up 
to  this  feeling,  strong  as  it  may  be,  will  lie  the  failure.  Labor,  though  we 
all  acknowledge  its  potency,  still  has  too  repulsive  a  front.  Be  it  my  duty 
to  see  in  its  appearance  nothing  but  invitation  and  incentive.  Yes,  duty 
shall  gird  me  for  its  endurance.  But,  to  stop  this  vague  sermonizing,  I  am 
now  a  regular  member  of  the  Law  School,  have  read  a  volume  and  a  half  of 
Blackstone,  and  am  enamored  of  the  law.  Tower,  we  have  struck  the  true 
profession;  the  one  in  which  the  mind  is  the  most  sharpened  and  quickened, 
and  the  duties  of  which,  properly  discharged,  are  most  vital  to  the  interests 
of  the  country,  —  for  religion  exists  independent  of  its  ministers ;  every  breast 
feels  it:  but  the  law  lives  only  in  the  honesty  and  learning  of  lawyers.  Let 
us  feel  conscious,  then,  of  our  responsibility;  and,  by  as  much  as  our  profes- 
sion excels  in  interest  and  importance,  give  to  it  a  corresponding  dedication 
of  our  abilities.  And  yet  I  give  back  in  despair  when  I  see  the  vast  weight 
which  a  lawyer  must  bear  up  under.  Volumes  upon  volumes  are  to  be  mas- 
tered of  the  niceties  of  the  law,  and  the  whole  circle  of  literature  and  science 
and  history  must  be  compassed.  .   .  . 

Tell  me  what  law-books  you  have  read  and  are  reading,  and  whether  you 
have  taken  notes  of  or  ' '  commonplaced  ' '  any  of  your  study.  I  have  taken 
some  notes  from  Blackstone  of  the  different  estates,  contingent  remainders, 
&c.  As  to  Blackstone,  I  almost  feel  disposed  to  join  with  Fox,  who  pro- 
nounced him  the  best  writer  in  the  English  language.  He  is  clear,  fluent,  and 
elegant,  with  occasionally  a  loose  expression  and  a  bad  use  of  a  metaphor; 
but  what  a  good  thing  for  our  profession  that  we  can  commence  our  studies 
with  such  an  author.  His  commentaries  unfold  a  full  knowledge  by  them- 
selves of  the  law,  —  a  knowledge  to  be  filled  out  by  further  study,  but  which 
is  yet  a  whole  by  itself.  .  .  . 

The  lower  floor  of  Divinity  Hall,  where  I  reside,  is  occupied  by  law-stu- 
dents. There  are  here  Browne  and  Dana  of  our  old  class,  with  others  that 
I  know  nothing  of,  —  not  even  my  neighbor,  parted  from  me  by  a  partition- 
wall,  have  I  seen  yet;  and  I  do  not  wish  to  see  him.  I  wish  no  acquaintances, 
for  they  eat  up  time  like  locusts.     The  old  classmates  are  enough.  ...  I 


112  MEMOIR  OF   CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1831-33. 

admire  that  filial  piety  which  would  make  you  give  up  formed  plans  and 
professional  studies  for  cares  with  which  your  mind  has  little  sympathy.  It 
will  result  in  good.  Your  friend  in  truth, 

Charles  Sumner. 


TO  CHARLEMAGNE  TOWER. 

Cambridge,  Law  School,  Jan.  31,  1832. 
My  dear  Friend,  —  I  never  receive  a  letter  from  one  of  my  old  college 
friends  without  experiencing  a  most  pleasing  melancholy.  Memory  is  always 
at  hand,  with  her  throng  of  recollections  and  associations,  the  shadows  of 
past  joys,  —  joys  gone  as  irrevocably  as  time.  Youth  and  college  feelings 
have  given  way  to  manhood  and  its  sterner  avocations.  The  course  is  fairly 
commenced  in  the  race  of  life,  and  every  intellectual  and  corporal  agency  is 
bent  to  exertion.  There  are  now  no  Saturdays  bringing  weekly  respites 
from  drudgery,  allowing  a  momentary  stop  in  the  path  of  duty.  All  is  labor. 
It  mattereth  not  the  day  or  hardly  the  hour,  for  duty  is  urgent  all  days  and 
all  hours.  What,  then,  could  bring  up  more  pleasing  recollections,  and  yet 
tinged  with  melancholy  (because  they  are  never  more  to  be  seen,  except  in 
memory's  mirror)  than  a  letter  from  one  who  was  present  and  active  in  those 
scenes  to  which  the  mind  recurs?  I  sometimes  let  a  whole  hour  slip  by  un- 
consciously, my  book  unvexed  before  me,  musing  upon  old  times,  feelings, 
and  comrades.  My  eye  sees,  as  exactly  as  if  I  had  left  it  but  yesterday,  the 
old  recitation-room  and  all  its  occupants.  My  ear  seems  yet  to  vibrate  with 
the  sound  of  the  various  voices  which  we  heard  so  often.  But  the  reverie  has 
its  end,  for  the  present  and  future  drive  from  the  mind  musings  of  the  past. 
Judge  Story  is  at  Washington,  with  the  Supreme  .Court,  for  the  winter. 
Of  course  the  school  misses  him.  Our  class,  as  yet,  has  had  nothing  to  do 
with  him.  Those  who  do  recite  to  him  love  him  more  than  any  instructor 
they  ever  had  before.  He  treats  them  all  as  gentlemen,  and  is  full  of  willing- 
ness to  instruct.  He  gives  to  every  line  of  the  recited  lesson  a  running  com- 
mentary, and  omits  nothing  which  can  throw  light  upon  the  path  of  the 
student.  The  good  scholars  like  him  for  the  knowledge  he  distributes ;  the 
poor  (if  any  there  be),  for  the  amenity  with  which  he  treats  them  and  their 
faults.  Have  you  determined  never  again  to  return  to  the  shadows  of  Cam- 
bridge? By  the  way,  the  judge  has  a  book  in  press,  which  will  be  published 
within  a  week,  which  you  must  read.  I  mention  this  because  I  doubted 
whether  you  would  hear  of  it  immediately.  It  is  called  ' '  Commentaries  on 
Bailments,"  and  will  entirely  supersede  the  classic  work  of  Jones.  The  title 
of  "  Bailments  "  is  of  but  a  day's  growth.  It  is  hardly  known  to  the  common 
law.  Jones's  work  was  written  about  forty  years  ago.  Since  then  it  has 
gained  a  much  completer  conformation.  Story's  work  will  supply  all  defi- 
ciencies, and,  I  suspect,  be  an  interesting  book;  certainly  a  useful  one. 

I  am  now  upon  Kent's  second  volume.     He  is  certainly  the  star  of  your 
State.     I  like  his  works,  though  less  than  most  students.     To  me  he  is  very 


JEt.  20-22.]  BEREAVEMENT.  113 

indistinct  in  his  outlines.  This,  perhaps,  is  the  more  observable,  stepping, 
as  I  do,  from  the  well-defined  page  of  Blackstone.  Truly,  the  English  com- 
mentator is  a  glorious  man ;  he  brings  such  a  method,  such  a  flow  of  lan- 
guage and  allusion  and  illustration  to  every  topic !  I  have  heard  a  sensible 
lawyer  place  Kent  above  him;  but,  in  my  opinion,  sooner  ought  the  earth  to 
be  above  the  clear  and  azure-built  heavens !  And  yet  the  character  of  Kent, 
as  told  to  me,  bewitches  me.  His  works,  in  fact,  are  crude,  and  made  to 
publish  and  get  money  from  (he  has  already  cleared  twenty  thousand  dollars 
from  them)  rather  than  to  be  admired  and  to  last.  A  revision  may  put  them 
in  a  little  better  plight  for  visiting  posterity,  and  I  understand  he  is  giving 
them  this.1 

When  you  write,  tell  me  all  the  law  you  have  read.     I  wish  to  compare 
"  reckonings  "  with  you  occasionally,  as  we  are  voyaging  on  the  same  sea. 

This  is  written  in  the  vexation  of  a  cough, 

By  your  true  friend, 

Chas.  Sumner. 


TO  CHARLEMAGNE  TOWER. 

Cambridge,  Friday  Morning,  May  11,  1832. 

My  dear  Friend,  —  The  moment  I  saw  the  black  seal  of  your  letter  my 
mind  anticipated  the  sorrowful  intelligence  it  bore.2  Permit  me  to  join  with 
you  in  grief.  I  offer  you  my  sincere  sympathies.  The  loss  of  a  father  I  can 
only  imagine :  may  God  put  far  distant  the  day  when  that  affliction  shall  come 
over  me !  You  have  been  a  faithful  son ;  and,  I  know,  a  joy  to  his  eyes.  I 
reverence  the  spirit  with  which  you  have  sacrificed  all  your  professional  and 
literary  predilections.  You  did  that  for  your  father's  sake;  and  the  thought 
that  you  did  it  on  his  account  must  be  to  you  a  spring  of  satisfaction  and 
consolation  as  hallowed  as  the  grief  which  you  feel.  You  follow  duty:  what 
nobler  object  can  man  follow;  and  what  can  bring  him  to  a  nobler  end?  The 
professions  or  walks  of  life  in  which  we  may  tread  are  of  but  little  conse- 
quence, so  that  the  way  we  take  is  well  trod.  I  promise  that  your  sacrifice 
will  be  ever  unrepented ;  not  that  I  undervalue  the  study  of  the  law,  or  the 
means  which  it  affords  of  advancement  and  honor,  but  because  your  sacrifice 
was  one  of  duty  and  piety. 

You  kindly  mentioned  my  sister.8  I  owe  every  one  thanks  and  regard  who 
speaks  of  her  with  respect.  But  my  grief,  whatever  it  may  be,  has  not  the 
source  that  yours  has.  A  Persian  matron,  oppressed  by  a  tyrant  king,  had 
the  leave  of  the  monarch  to  save  from  death  one  of  her  family  and  relatives. 
She  had  many  children  and  a  husband ;  but  she  had  also  a  father,  old  and 
decrepit.  Him  she  selected  and  saved,  saying  that  another  husband  and  other 
children  she  might  have,  but  another  father  never.     I  have  lost  a  sister;  but  I 

1  He  thought  more  highly  of  Chancellor  Kent's  Commentaries  at  a  later  period,  post, 
p.  120. 

2  Tower's  father  had  died,  March  15,  at  St.  Augustine. 

8  Tower,  Hopkinson,  Stearns,  and  Converse  wrote  to  Sumner  letters  of  sympathy  at  the 
time  of  his  sister  Matilda's  death. 

vol.  I.  8 


114  MEMOIR   OF   CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1831-33. 

still  have  other  sisters  and  brothers,  entitled  to  my  instructions  and  protec- 
tion.    I  strive  to  forget  my  loss  in  an  increased  regard  for  the  living.  .  .  . 

Let  me  then  remind  you  (of  what  I  know  there  is  no  need  of  reminding 
you)  that  the  cares  and  honors  of  your  father's  house  devolve  upon  you. 
Serve  all  as  you  have  served  him.  I  have  written  with  the  freedom  of  a 
friend  who  takes  an  unfeigned  interest  in  you  and  yours. 

Death,  this  winter,  has  glutted  himself  among  those  to  whom  my  acquaint- 
ance and  regards  extended,  more  than  in  all  the  rest  of  my  life.  Penniman, 
our  classmate,  died,  —  a  calm  and  easy  death,  unconscious  that  he  was  sink- 
ing into  a  sleep  longer  than  that  of  a  night.  Yesterday's  paper  told  me  of 
the  death  of  Hale,  from  New  York,  who  graduated  the  year  after  we  did. 
What  death  may  come  next,* —  who  can  tell  ?  .  .  . 

I  have  thought  but  little  of  the  Bowdoin  subjects,  and  it  is  from  now  just 
a  month  when  the  dissertations  must  be  handed  in.  If  I  write  at  all,  it  will 
be  upon  the  second  subject.  I  shall  choose  that,  because  it  will  require  but 
little  immediate  investigation.  A  general  knowledge  of  the  course  of  events, 
the  progress  of  society,  and  the  causes  and  effects  of  some  of  the  principal 
revolutions,  is  all  that  is  wanted  for  a  discussion  of  this  subject.  To  be  sure, 
that  is  a  good  deal;  but  my  historical  studies  have,  in  some  degree,  fitted  me 
for  reflection  upon  it.  To  discuss  the  third  subject,  I  should  be  obliged  to 
review  in  detail  the  history  of  Mohammedanism.  I  am  now  studying  the 
law  with  some  singleness,  and  should  feel  unwilling  to  give  myself  to  any  so 
serious  study  aside  from  those  of  my  profession.  I  much  doubt  whether  I 
shall  touch  either  subject.  Fifty  dollars  is  an  inducement,  —  great  to  me;  for 
I  just  begin  seriously  to  feel  the  value  of  money.  Last  January  I  was  twenty- 
one.  New  feelings  have  been  opened  to  me  since  I  arrived  at  that  age.  I 
feel  that  I  ought  to  be  doing  something  for  myself,  and  not  to  live  an  expense 
to  my  father,  with  his  large  family  looking  to  him  for  support  and  education. 
Stearns  is  somewhat  recovered.  He  is  with  his  father  at  Bedford,  and  has 
the  care  of  a  suspended  boy  from  college.  I  doubt  whether  many  days  be  in 
store  for  him. 

I  am  anxious  to  know  the  extent  of  your  law-studies.  You  will  be  for  five 
years  a  business  man.  Never  forget  that  you  are  also  a  scholar.  If  I  can 
ever  be  of  use  to  you,  on  account  of  my  access  to  the  library  or  on  any  other 
account,  fail  not  to  command  me.  Any  trouble  you  may  put  me  to  will  be  a 
pleasing  one.  .  .  . 

Excuse  my  long  scrawl,  and  believe  me  your  true  friend,  C.  S. 


TO  JONATHAN  F.  STEARNS. 
34  Divinity  Hall,  Friday  Evening,  10  o'clock,  May  18,  1832. 
My  dear  Friend,  —  I  am  grateful  to  you  for  the  regard  you  have  ex- 
pressed for  my  sister.  She  is  now  beyond  the  show  of  my  affection  and 
regard.  I  will  then  transfer  them,  for  her  sake,  to  those  who  speak  and 
think  well  of  her.  Matilda  died  on  March  6.  You  were  the  last  of  my 
friends  who  saw  her.   If  I  remember,  when  you  were  last  at  my  father's,  you 


^Kt.  20-22.]  VACATION.  115 

eat  for  a  while  in  her  chamber.  She  gradually  became  weaker  and  weaker, 
sinking  by  degrees,  imperceptible  except  in  their  aggregate ;  always  contented 
anil  cheerful,  and,  till  the  last  two  days  of  her  tarry  here,  able  to  sit  up  a 
good  portion  of  the  day.  It  was  evident,  though,  a  fortnight  —  perhaps  a 
month  —  before  she  died,  that  she  could  not  live.  It  is,  I  believe,  the  nature 
of  consumption  to  deceive  its  unfortunate  victim  into  the  belief  that  health 
may  yet  be  regained,  or,  at  least,  life  retained.  It  is  accompanied  with  no 
decided  pain,  and  thus  leaves  the  mind  to  its  hopes  and  anticipations.  That 
such  was  the  state  of  my  sister's  mind,  I  do  not  know.  I  never  ventured  to 
introduce  my  fears  to  her,  and  she  seemed  as  studiously  to  avoid  allusion  to 
that  topic.  My  mother,  but  a  few  days  before  her  death,  introduced  the 
subject,  and  found  her  to  be  perfectly  conscious  of  her  situation  and  resigned 
to  that  Will  which  is  the  governor  of  our  lives.  She  sank  into  death  "  calmly 
as  to  a  night's  repose,"  the  last  words  she  uttered  being  those  of  gratitude  to 
one  of  her  young  friends  who  was  watching  her  wants  and  comforts.  My 
father's  distress  was  very  great.  More  than  once  I  saw  tears  steal  from  his 
eyes.     My  mother  is  still  dejected  and  comfortless.  .  .  . 

You  have  referred  to  my  health,  &c.  I  never  was  better;  in  fact,  1  never 
was  unwell.  I  've  always  been  well.  Who  can  have  spoken  to  you  of  me 
such  flattering  words,  as  should  imply  that  I  was  hurting  my  health  with 
study?  Contra,  I  reprove  myself  for  lack  of  study.  I  am  well-determined, 
though,  that,  if  health  is  continued  to  me,  lack  of  study  shall  not  be  laid  to 
my  charge.     Study  is  the  talisman. 

Carter  is  trying  to  start  a  school  in  Boston.    Browne  is  well.    He  does  not 
love  the  law.     He  is  a  keen,  direct,  and  close  debater. 
From  your  true  friend, 

Chas.  Sumner. 


TO  CHARLEMAGNE  TOWER. 

Boston,  Sunday,  July  29,  1832. 

My  dear  Friend,  —  This  is  vacation,  —  if  such  time  there  can  be  to  one 
who  has  doubled  his  twenty-first  year,  and  is  moderately  aware  of  the  duties 
of  manhood,  —  and  I  am  at  home.  I  have  not  stirred  within  sight  of  the 
Boston  boundary-line  since  I  came  into  town,  and  probably  shall  not  cross 
it  during  the  whole  six  weeks,  except  perhaps  to  make  a  pilgrimage  to 
Cambridge.  I  am  grateful  to  you  for  your  kind  invitation  to  visit  you  and 
see  your  doings.  The  gratification  of  friendship  aside,  I  should  be  much 
delighted  to  travel  through  your  great  and  growing  State,  and  look  at  and 
hear  "  Niagara's  roar."  But  pockets  not  full,  and  an  attention  given  to  stud- 
ies by  which  I  must  earn  what  of  bread  and  credit  may  be  my  lot,  prevent.  .  .  . 

I  wrote  a  Bowdoin  dissertation  on  the  subject  which  I  mentioned  in  my 
last  to  you  as  uppermost  in  my  mind.  I  commenced  one  evening,  and  a  fort- 
night after  I  wrote  the  last  sentence,  —  some  fifty  pages.  During  all  the 
while  I  attended  closely  to  the  exercises  of  the  school.  .  .  . 

Your  affectionate  friend,  C  S. 


116  MEMOIR  OF  CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1831-33. 

TO  CHARLEMAGNE  TOWER. 

Cambridge,  Wednesday,  Oct.  24,  1832 

My  dear  Friend,  — .  .  .  Yesterday,  Dane  Law  College  (situated  just 
north  of  Rev.  Mr.  Newell's  church),  a  beautiful  Grecian  temple,  with  four 
Ionic  pillars  in  front,  —  the  most  architectural  and  the  best-built  edifice  be- 
longing to  the  college,  —  was  dedicated  to  the  law.  Quincy  delivered  a 
most  proper  address  of  an  hour,  full  of  his  strong  sense  and  strong  language. 
Webster,  J.  Q.  Adams,  Dr.  Bowditch,  Edward  Everett,  Jeremiah  Mason, 
Judge  Story,  Ticknor,  leaders  in  the  eloquence,  statesmanship,  mathematics, 
scholarship,  and  law  of  our  good  land,  were  all  present,  —  a  glorious  company. 
The  Law  School  have  requested  a  copy  for  the  press.  It  will  of  a  certainty 
be  given.     I  shall  send  you  the  address  when  published. 

When  you  again  visit  Cambridge  you  will  be  astonished  at  the  changes 
that  have  been  wrought,  —  trees  planted,  common  fenced,  new  buildings 
raised,  and  others  designed.  Quincy  is  a  man  of  life,  and  infuses  a  vigor 
into  all  that  he  touches. 

Commencement  Day, — it  Was  a  good  one;  parts  full  of  modest  merit, 
nothing  poor;  orations  not  great,  but  thoughtful  and  pleasantly  composed. 
There  was  no  strong  and  salient  merit,  but  there  was  an  abundance  of  that 
respectable  talent  which  excites  our  respect  and  gives  earnest  of  future  use- 
fulness. The  world  is  apt  to  judge  of  a  day's  performances  by  the  few  bril- 
liant and  striking  parts  that  are  heard.     This  is  not  the  proper  test. 

There  was  a  general  rising  against  the  Master's  degree.     Curtis,1  by  far 
the  first  man  of  his  class,  with  the  highest  legal  prospects  before  him,  refused 
H,  and  stirred  many  of  his  class  to  the  same  conclusion.  .  .  . 
From  your  sincere  friend, 

Chas.  Sumner. 


TO  CHARLEMAGNE  TOWER. 

Cambridge,  Dec.  17,  1832. 

My  dear  Tower,  — A  letter  from  you  is  now  something  of  an  event  in 
my  meagre  life.  Last  year  and  the  year  before  I  had  several  correspondents, 
who  occasionally  favored  me  with  their  letters.  But  they  have  all  shrunk 
away  but  yourself.  Professional  studies,  and  those  cares  which  thicken  upon 
us  all  as  we  gain  in  years,  gradually  weaned  them  from  the  pleasures  of 
friendship,  binding  them  to  those  labors  which  may  secure  them  bread  and 
fame.  With  you  I  have  now  held  a  long  correspondence,  which  to  me  has 
been  full  of  interest  and  instruction.  Every  letter  brings  up  crowds  of  asso- 
ciations, in  which  I  like  to  find  myself.  The  bare  sheet  before  me  has  an 
intrinsic  interest,  indeed,  of  its  own ;  but  it  is  doubly  grateful  as  it  calls  to 
my  mind  all  those  college  scenes  in  which  I  so  much  delighted,  those  friends 
in  whom  I  have  such  pride,  and  all  the  pleasures  and  improvement  which  I 

1  Benjamin  R.  Curtis. 


JEt.  20-22.1  RELIGIOUS  BELIEF.  117 

received  in  their  society.  I  sit  oftentimes,  after  having  read  one  of  your 
letters,  filled  with  that  mingled  melancholy  and  joy  which  comes  over  one 
when  thinking  of  the  enjoyments  of  the  past,  and  of  the  too  palpable  certainty 
that  those  enjoyments  will  never  again  be  met  except  by  Memory  in  her 
pleasant  wanderings.     But  stop !  — 

We  truly  are  in  a  sad  state.  Civil  war,  in  a  portentous  cloud,  hangs  over 
us.  South  Carolina,  though  the  sorest  part  of  our  system,  is  not  the  only 
part  that  is  galled.  Georgia  cannot,  Virginia  cannot,  stomach  the  high  Fed- 
eral doctrines  which  the  President  has  set  forth  in  his  proclamation,1  and 
upon  which  the  stability  of  the  country  rests.  That  is  a  glorious  document, 
worthy  of  any  President.  Our  part  of  the  country  rejoices  in  it  as  a  true  ex- 
position of  the  Constitution,  and  a  fervid  address  to  those  wayward  men  who 
aie  now  plunging  us  into  disgrace  abroad  and  misery  at  home.  Judge  Story 
speaks  much  of  its  value;  and  so  striking  did  its  argument  appear  to  him,  that 
he  has  introduced  it  into  a  note  to  his  work  on  the  Constitution,  in  three 
volumes;  which  will  be  published  by  the  middle  of  January.2 

To  change  the  tone,  I  hope  you  have  not  given  up  the  idea  of  studying 
law.  I  believe  that  you  will  be  happier  in  that  profession  than  in  any  other. 
By  it  yo.i  will  be  enabled  to  gratify  that  laudable  and  honest  ambition  which 
you  possess.  You  will  be  interested  and  fully  employed  by  its  study.  If  one 
does  not  wish  to  follow  the  profession,  I  need  not  tell  you  that  he  will  still 
find  the  law  a  most  profitable  study,  disciplining  the  mind  and  storing  it  with 
those  everlasting  principles  which  are  at  the  bottom  of  all  society  and  order. 
For  myself,  I  become  more  wedded  to  the  law,  as  a  profession,  every  day  that 
I  study  it.  Politics  I  begin  to  loathe ;  they  are  of  a  day,  but  the  law  is  of 
all  time.     Pray  excuse  my  sermonizing.  .  .  . 

From  your  true  friend,  C.  S. 


TO  JONATHAN  F.  STEARNS,  ANDOVER,  MASS.* 

Cambridge,  Jan.  12,  1833. 
My  dear  Friend,  —  I  have  received  and  am  grateful  for  your  letter. 
The  interest  you  manifest  in  my  welfare  calls  for  my  warmest  acknowledg- 
ments. I  do  not  know  how  I  can  better  show  myself  worthy  of  your  kindness 
than  with  all  frankness  and  plainness  to  expose  to  you,  in  a  few  words,  the 
state  of  my  mind  on  the  important  subject  upon  which  you  addressed  me. 

1  Andrew  Jackson's  Proclamation  of  Dec,  1832,  upon  the  occasion  of  the  nullifying 
ordinance  of  South  Carolina. 

2  Story  on  the  Constitution,  Vol.  I.  Appendix. 

8  This  letter  is  a  reply  to  one  from  Stearns,  then  a  student  at  the  Andover  Theological 
Seminary,  in  which  he  pressed  the  Christian  faith  on  Sumner's  attention,  and  began  thus : 
"  My  knowledge  of  your  candid  temper,  and  the  terms  on  which  we  have  been  long  conver- 
sant with  each  other,  encourage  the  belief  that  you  will  suffer  me  for  once  to  address  you 
with  great  plainness.  The  sentiments  of  friendship  I  have  so  long  cherished  towards  you ; 
the  high  respect  I  entertain  for  your  character  and  talents;  the  extensive  influence  which  I 
foresee  you  are  to  have  in  the  community ;  and,  more  than  these,  the  immortality  to  which 
we  both  are  destined,  — all  forbid  me  to  be  silent." 


118  MEMOIR  OF  CHARLES  SUMNER.  [1831-33. 

The  last  time  I  saw  you,  you  urged  upon  me  the  study  of  the  proofs  of  Chris- 
tianity, with  an  earnestness  that  flowed,  I  was  conscious,  from  a  sincere  confi- 
dence in  them  yourself  and  the  consequent  wish  that  all  should  believe ;  as 
in  belief  was  sure  salvation.  I  have  had  your  last  words  and  look  often  in 
my  mind  since.  They  have  been  not  inconstant  prompters  to  thought  and 
speculation  upon  the  proposed  subject.  I  attended  Bishop  Hopkins's  lectures, 
and  gave  to  them  a  severe  attention.  I  remained  and  still  remain  uncon- 
vinced that  Christ  was  divinely  commissioned  to  preach  a  revelation  to  men, 
and  that  he  was  entrusted  with  the  power  of  working  miracles.  But  when  I 
make  this  declaration,  I  do  not  mean  to  deny  that  such  a  being  as  Christ 
lived  and  went  about  doing  good,  or  that  the  body  of  precepts  which  have 
come  down  to  us  as  delivered  by  him,  were  so  delivered.  I  believe  that  Christ 
lived  when  and  as  the  Gospel  says;  that  he  was  more  than  man,  —  namely, 
above  all  men  who  had  as  yet  lived,  —  and  yet  less  than  God;  full  of  the 
strongest  sense  and  knowledge,  and  of  a  virtue  superior  to  any  which  we  call 
Roman  or  Grecian  or  Stoic,  and  which  we  best  denote  when,  borrowing  his 
name,  we  call  it  Christian.  I  pray  you  not  to  believe  that  I  am  insensible  to 
the  goodness  and  greatness  of  his  character.  My  idea  of  human  nature  is  ex- 
alted, when  I  think  that  such  a  being  lived  and  went  as  a  man  amongst  men. 
And  here,  perhaps,  the  conscientious  unbeliever  may  find  good  cause  for  glo- 
rifying his  God ;  not  because  he  sent  his  Son  into  the  world  to  partake  of  its 
troubles  and  be  the  herald  of  glad  tidings,  but  because  he  suffered  a  man  to 
be  born,  in  whom  the  world  should  see  but  one  of  themselves,  endowed  with 
qualities  calculated  to  elevate  the  standard  of  attainable  excellence. 

I  do  not  know  that  I  can  say  more  without  betraying  you  into  a  contro- 
versy, in  which  I  should  be  loath  to  engage,  and  from  which  I  am  convinced 
no  good  would  result  to  either  party.  I  do  not  think  that  I  have  a  basis  for 
faith  to  build  upon.  I  am  without  religious  feeling.  I  seldom  refer  my 
happiness  or  acquisitions  to  the  Great  Father  from  whose  mercy  they  are 
derived.  Of  the  first  great  commandment,  then,  upon  which  so  much  hangs, 
I  live  in  perpetual  unconsciousness,  —  I  will  not  say  disregard,  for  that,  per- 
haps, would  imply  that  it  was  present  in  my  mind.  I  believe,  though,  that 
my  love  to  my  neighbor  —  namely,  my  anxiety  that  my  fellow-creatures 
should  be  happy,  and  disposition  to  serve  them  in  their  honest  endeavors  — 
is  pure  and  strong.  Certainly  I  do  feel  an  affection  for  every  thing  that  God 
created;  and  this  feeling  is  my  religion. 

"He  prayeth  well,  who  loveth  well 
Both  man  and  bird  and  beast. 

He  prayeth  best,  who  loveth  best 
All  things  both  great  and  small; 
For  the  dear  God  who  loveth  us, 
He  made  and  loveth  all." 

I  ask  you  not  to  imagine  that  I  am  led  into  the  above  sentiment  by  the 
lines  I  have  just  quoted,  —  the  best  of  Coleridge's  "Rime  of  the  Ancient 
Mariner,"  —  but  rather  that  I  seize  the  lines  to  express  and  illustrate  my 
feeling. 


JET.20-22.J         PROFESSOR  GREENLEAF.  119 

This  communication  is  made  in  the  fulness  of  friendship  and  confidence. 
To  your  charity  and  continued  interest  in  my  welfare,  suffer  me  to  commend 
myself  as  Your  affectionate  friend, 

Chas.  Sumner. 

P.  S.  —  Browne  has  left  Cambridge,  and  is  for  the  winter  at  Salem.  Hop- 
kinson  has  also  left,  and  is  with  H.  H.  Fuller  in  Boston.  McBurney  has  a 
charge  in  Boston,  which  keeps  him  happy  and  busy,  —  the  former  par  con- 
sequence from  the  latter.  I  feel  quite  alone.  My  chief  company  is  the  letters 
of  my  friends.     Write  me.  C.  S. 


TO  CHARLEMAGNE  TOWER. 

Sunday  Night,  May  5,  1838. 

My  dear  Tower, —  .  .  .  Since  my  last,  our  junior  professor1 — as  you 
have  seen  by  the  papers  and  by  the  eulogy  I  had  the  pleasure  of  sending  to 
you — has  died.  His  death,  though  for  a  long  time  anticipated,  yet  had  a 
degree  of  suddenness  about  it.  All  deemed  his  days  numbered;  but  few 
were  prepared  to  hear  that  they  were  cut  short  when  they  were.  I  was  with 
him,  and  was  the  only  one  with  him,  at  his  death.  It  was  the  first  death- 
bed, not  to  say  sick-bed,  I  ever  stood  by.  If  death  comes  as  it  came  to  him, 
surely  in  it  there  is  nothing  to  fear,  except  in  the  thoughts  of  "going  we 
know  not  where."  Those  thoughts  will  be  oppressive  according  to  the  edu- 
cation and  religious  feeling  and  mental  strength  of  the  sufferer;  but  the 
physical  pain  need  make  no  one  dread  his  ultima  dies.  Most  persons,  I  be- 
lieve, have  a  vague  fear  of  racking  pains  and  torments  that  attend  dissolu- 
tion; but  these  are  creatures  of  the  brain. 

A  successor  has  been  appointed  to  Mr.  Ashmun,  who  will  commence  his 
duties  here  in  July,  or  next  September.  You  have  seen  him  announced  in 
the  papers,  —  Mr.  Greenleaf,  of  Maine;  a  fine  man,  learned  lawyer,  good 
scholar,  ardent  student,  of  high  professional  character,  taking  a  great  inter- 
est in  his  profession:  add  to  this,  a  gentleman,  a  man  of  manners,  affability, 
and  enthusiasm,  nearly  fifty  years  old;  now  has  a  very  extensive  practice  in 
Maine,  which  he  will  wind  up  before  he  starts  upon  his  new  line  of  duties. 
It  were  worth  your  coming  from  New  York  to  study  under  Judge  Story  and 
Greenleaf  next  term.  I  shall  not  be  here  after  this  year;  not  but  1  should 
like  to  be  here,  —  for  I  could  spend  my  life,  I  believe,  in  this,  as  some  call  it, 
monkish  seclusion,  —  but  because  it  is  necessary  to  obtain  a  knowledge  of 
practice  in  a  lawyer's  office,  to  come  down  from  books  and  theory  to  men  and 
writs ;  and  one  year,  which  will  alone  remain  to  me  after  Commencement, 
is  usually  considered  little  enough  for  that  purpose. 

How  do  you  progress  in  law?  Write  me.  How  do  you  like  Kent?  I  owe 
him  much.     I  have  had  from  him  a  great  deal  of  elegant  instruction.     His 

1  Professor  Ashmun. 


120  MEMOIR  OF  CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1831-33. 

Commentaries  are  not  wholly  appreciated  by  the  student  upon  a  first  perusal ; 
they  are  hardly  elementary  enough.  Ashmun  said  that  they  were  written  as 
the  judgments  of  a  judge.  But  when  one  is  a  little  advanced  or  familiar 
with  them,  he  sees  the  comprehensive  views  they  take  of  the  law  of  which 
they  treat,  and  the  condensed  shape  into  which  the  law  on  their  several  titles 
is  thrown.  Kent  is  one  of  the  glories  of  your  State,  whether  you  look  at  him 
as  ^  ommentator  or  a  judge.  In  the  latter  capacity,  his  opinions,  for  learn- 
ing and  ability,  stand  almost  unrivalled.  .Judges  Marshall  and  Story  alone, 
of  any  judges  in  our  country,  may  be  compared  with  him.  .  .  . 

Truly  and  faithfully  your  friend,  C.  S. 


TO  CHARLEMAGNE  TOWER. 

Wednesday,  June  12,  1833. 

My  dear  Tower,  —  I  send  by  your  brother  for  your  acceptance  a  couple 
numbers  of  Professor  Willard's  Review,  of  which  you  may  have  heard,  con- 
taining slight  articles  of  mine ;  which  I  flattered  myself  might  be  interesting 
to  you,  not  from  any  merit  of  theirs,  but  on  account  of  our  friendship. 
The  article  on  impeachments  was  the  result  of  some  study  of  the  impeach- 
ments under  our  Constitution,  and  is  the  fullest  historical  survey  of  that 
subject  that  I  know  of.  The  article  on  Blackstone  is  a  meagre  thing,  writ- 
ten at  five  minutes'  notice,  to  piece  out  the  number  for  the  month.  The 
two  numbers  may  have  another  interest  to  you,  as  reviving  some  recollections 
of  Cambridge  and  those  who  live  therein.  The  whole  Review  smacks  strongly 
of  the  place  of  its  publication.  The  article  on  Professor  Stuart's  classics 1  is 
rather  a  celebrated  one ;  has  excited  much  comment ;  is  thought  to  be  one  of 
the  most  thorough  and  searching  reviews  (strictly  reviews,  for  it  is  not  a  talk 
round  "  about  and  about  "  its  subject)  that  has  ever  appeared  in  our  country. 

Preparations  are  making  to  receive  General  Jackson  with  the  same  college 
ceremonies  with  which  Monroe  was  received,  —  namely,  an  address  in  Eng- 
lish from  the  President,  and  a  Latin  address  from  the  first  scholar  of  the 
Senior  Class,  —  Bo  wen.2 

Believe  me  your  faithful  friend,  C.  S. 


TO  CHARLEMAGNE  TOWER. 

Dane  Law  College,  Monday,  July  15,  1833. 
...  If  you  want  a  book  which  will  be  a  light  law-book,  and  a  most 
instructive  work  as  to  the  government  under  which  we  live,  which  shall  be 
entertaining  and  informing,  written  in  a  more  brilliant  and  elementary, 

1  By  Professor  James  L.  Kingsley,  of  Yale  College. 

2  Professor  Francis  Bowen. 


Mt.  20-22.]  INTEREST  IN  CLASSMATES.  Vl\ 

though  less  correct,  style  than  Kent's  "  Commentaries,"  read  Judge  Story's 
"  Commentaries  on  the  Constitution."  They  make  an  invaluable  work  to 
every  statesman  and  lawyer;  in  fact,  to  every  citizen  of  views  raised  at  all 
above  the  ephemeral  politics  with  which  we  are  annoyed. 

Wednesday  Eve. 

Since  I  wrote  the  above,  two  whole  days  have  passed.  I  have  heart  jRTeb- 
ster's  performance,1  and  like  it  much.  He  did  himself  honor  with  mature 
men.  As  for  undergraduates,  I  suppose  they  were  dissatisfied,  for  they  could 
find  no  brilliancies  or  points  or  attractive  allusions.  It  was  characterized  by 
judgment,  sense,  and  great  directness  and  plainness  of  speech.  It  had  no 
exaggerated  thoughts  or  expressions,  but  was  full  of  simple  thoughts  expressed 
in  the  simplest  language. 

Come  on  here  at  Commencement  Day;  and  yet  I  know  no  reason  why  I 
should  wish  particularly  to  be  here  on  that  day.  Unless  Hopkinson  or  Stearns 
or  you  perform  the  master's  part,  I  doubt  whether  I  shall  take  the  trouble  to 
attend  the  fatiguing  exercises,  or  take  myself  from  my  every-day  duties. 

Faithfully  yours,  C.  S. 


TO  JOHN  B.   KERR,   EASTON,   MD. 

Dane  Law  College,  Wednesday,  Aug.  14,  1833. 

My  dear  Kerr,  —  I  am  thankful  to  you  for  the  gratification  afforded 
simply  by  the  sight  of  that  handwriting,  of  which  I  was  wont  to  see  so  much 
when  in  the  further  entry  of  Holworthy,  as  it  lay  scattered  over  your  tables 
loaded  with  books,  or  was  thrown  into  the  yard  with  forgotten  things,  in  the 
shape  of  embryo  theses  or  letters  or  parts.  It  was  last  evening  that  I  took 
from  the  post-office  your  friendly  favor ;  and  I  at  once  recognized  the  familiar 
strokes,  as  if  my  eyes  had  rested  upon  them  but  yesterday.  .  .  . 

You  inquire  of  many  of  our  class;  where  they  are,  and  what  their  present 
prospects,  &c.  I  can  answer  some  such  questions;  for,  being  of  Cambridge, 
I  am  naturally  in  the  centre  of  all  information  obtainable  as  to  the  fortunes 
of  graduates.  Three  years  have  made  many  changes ;  have  fixed  the  charac- 
ters for  life  of  many  whose  ages  were  too  young  to  have  fixed  characters  in 
college;  have  scattered  widely  the  whole  of  our  little  band,  not  to  be  again 
gathered  together  except  in  the  great  final  bourne ;  have  conducted  some  into 
the  occupations  by  which,  in  the  words  of  the  subject  of  our  last  theme,  they 
are  to  earn  their  "  bread  and  fame,"  and  have  left  many  like  myself  linger- 
ing by  the  wayside,  looking  forward  to  business  and  its  cares,  but  at  present 
unprepared  to  meet  them.  It  is  interesting  to  take  a  view  of  the  present 
characters  and  situations  of  our  old  associates.  One  wants  the  "  vantage- 
ground  "  of  Cambridge  to  see  them  all  distinctly.  .  .  . 

1  The  class  oration  of  Fletcher  Webster,  son  of  Daniel  Webster,  at  the  exhibition  is 
referred  to. 


122  MEMOIR   OF   CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1831-33. 

As  to  the  degree  of  A.  M. ;  few  took  the  degree  last  year,  — but  thirteen,  I 
believe.  Few  will  take  it  this  year;  not  that  there  is  any  combination  against 
it,  but  there  appears  to  be  a  pervading  sense  of  its  utter  worthlessness.  I 
have  not  yet  heard  of  one  who  will  take  it.  .  .  . 

Your  true  friend, 

Chas.  Sumner. 


TO  CHARLEMAGNE  TOWER. 

Dane  Law  College,  Sept.  1,  1833. 
My  dear  Tower,  —  This  is  the  last  night  of  Commencement  Week,  and 
college  has  assumed  much  of  its  wonted  air.  New  Freshmen  are  seen  in  the 
streets,  with  new-bought  articles  of  furniture  and  with  youthful  cheeks,  — 
two  strong  signs  of  the  first  stage  of  college  life.  Our  Law  School  has  begun 
to  fill  with  students.  Already  is  gathered  together,  I  believe,  the  largest 
collection  of  young  men  that  ever  met  at  one  place  in  America  for  the  study 
of  the  law.  There  are  now  upwards  of  fifty  who  have  joined  the  school. 
So  we  expect  the  ensuing  term  will  be  a  driving  one. 

Commencement  Day  passed  off  without  any  thing  very  worthy  of  note 
transpiring.  There  were  about  twenty  of  our  class  who  appeared  and  shook 
hands  with  one  another;  and  after  services  partook  of  dinner  with  the  gradu- 
ates, —  on  that  day  my  first  effort  being  made  in  the  department  of  Com- 
mencement dinners.  I  doubt  whether  I  shall  ever  patronize  them  again ;  for, 
first,  in  the  performances  of  the  day  I  shall  no  longer  have  an  interest,  the 
time  having  now  gone  by  in  which  my  own  friends  will  take  part  in  them ; 
and,  secondly,  if  I  were  ever  induced  to  come  to  the  performances,  I  hope  I 
shall  be  able  to  snatch  as  good  a  meal  elsewhere,  away  from  the  press  and 
turmoil  incident  to  a  public  dinner.  To  do  the  table  justice,  it  was  tolerably 
well  served,  and  we  had  quite  a  pleasant  time  in  divesting  it  of  its  many 
dishes. 

Of  our  classmates  who  were  here,  few  or  none  had  undergone  any  altera- 
tion. They  looked  and  talked  the  same  as  when  we  met  one  another  every 
day  in  social  and  intellectual  communion.  .  .  . 

Need  I  say  that  Everett  did  wonders  on  Phi  Beta  day?  *    Popkin  has  re- 
signed.    Felton  will  probably  be  his  successor.     Thank  you  for  reading  my 
article  in  the  "  Jurist;  "  but  I  want  you  to  make  allowances  for  the  haste  in 
which  it  was  composed,  and  more  for  the  inaccuracy  with  which  it  is  printed. 
Your  faithful  friend,  C.  S. 

l  Mr.  Everett  repeated  on  this  occasion,  Aug.  29,  the  oration  on  the  "Education  of  Man- 
kind," which  he  had  delivered,  Aug.  20,  at  Yale  College.  "Orations  and  Speeches  by 
Edward  Everett,"  Vol.  I.  pp.  404-441. 


JEt.  23.]  STUDY  IN  A  LAW  OFFICE.  123 


CHAPTER  VII. 

STUDY  IN  A  LAW  OFFICE.  —  VISIT  TO  WASHINGTON.— JANUARY,  1834,  TO 
SEPTEMBER,  1834.  — AGE,  23. 

T  TAVING  finished  his  studies  at  Cambridge  in  Dec.,  1833, 
•*•  ■*-  Sumner  entered  as  a  student,  Jan.  8, 1834,1  the  law-office  of 
Benjamin  Rand,  Court  Street,  Boston ;  a  lawyer  having  a  large 
practice,  but  distinguished  rather  for  his  great  learning  and 
faithful  attention  to  the  business  of  his  clients  than  for  any- 
attractive  forensic  qualities.2  He  had  access  to  the  remarkably 
well-stored  library  of  Mr.  Rand,  which  was  enriched  on  the  ar- 
rival of  almost  every  English  packet.  He  followed  very  much 
his  tastes  while  in  the  office,  doing  little  drudgery  as  a  copyist, 
and  seizing  every  opportunity  of  conversation  with  his  learned 
master.  He  was  missed  at  Cambridge,  where  teachers  and  friends 
had  parted  reluctantly  from  him.  Already  Story  and  Greenleaf 
counted  on  him  as  an  associate  instructor,  and  spoke  of  the  sepa- 
ration as  likely  to  be  but  temporary.  The  judge  wrote  to  him 
from  Washington,  Feb.  4 :  — 

"  Professor  Greenleaf  has  written  me  a  letter  full  of  lamentations  at  your 
departure,  and  he  complains  of  being  now  left  alone.  I  grieve  also,  but  not 
as  those  who  are  without  hope;  for,  if  the  Law  School  succeeds,  I  am  sure 
you  will  be  with  us  again  at  no  distant  period.  ...  It  would  have  been 
delightful  to  have  had  Mr.  Livermore's  bequest  incorporated  into  your  excel- 
lent catalogue.  But,  as  it  is,  we  must  have  it  in  an  appendix.  I  wish 
exceedingly  for  two  or  three  copies  of  your  catalogue  to  present  to  some  gen- 
tlemen here.     The  preface  will  do  you,  as  well  as  them,  good." 

Sumner's  contributions  to  the  "  Jurist "  at  this  time  were  an 
article  on  the  "  Lex  Loci,  —  Can  the  Assignee  of  a  Scotch  bond 
maintain  an  Action  in  his  own  name  in  the  Courts  of  this  Coun- 

1  His  father  noted  the  day  in  his  interleaved  copy  of  "Thomas's  Farmer's  Almanac." 
His  classmate  Hopkinson  had  desired  Sumner  to  enter  his  office  at  Lowell,  and  Mr.  Alvord 
also  invited  him  to  his  office  in  Greenfield. 

2  Mr.  Rand  in  the  autumn  of  1834  visited  England,  where  he  was  well  received  by  law- 
yers and  judges.     His  partner,  Mr.  A.  H.  Fiske,  remained  in  charge  of  the  office. 


124  MEMOIR  OF  CHARLES  SUMNER.  [1834 

try  ?  "  1  containing  citations  from  the  Roman  and  the  French  as 
well  as  from  the  common  law,  —  a  paper  which  grew  out  of  his 
argument  of  a  moot-court  case  before  Professor  Ashmun,  the  pre- 
vious year ;  a  "  Review  of  '  Chitty's  Pleadings,'  "  2  in  which  some 
technical  questions  are  treated ;  "  Characters  of  Law  Books 
and  Judges,"  3  a  voluminous  collection  of  opinions ;  "  Replevin 
of  Goods  taken  in  Execution,  —  Error  in  the  Books," 4  an  elab- 
orate discussion  of  a  technical  question ;  and  a  caustic  notice  of 
"  Tayler's  4  Law  Glossary.'  " 5  To  the  July  number  alone  he 
contributed  more  than  one  hundred  pages.  In  May,  he  became 
one  of  the  editors.  His  classmate  Browne,  whose  advice  he 
sought  in  relation  to  this  connection,  did  not  think  the  effect  of 
habitual  writing  for  law  magazines  upon  a  lawyer's  mind  to  be 
wholesome,  and  strongly  urged  that,  if  he  accepted  the  offer,  he 
should  limit  his  engagement  to  a  year  and  a  half. 

His  studies  with  Mr.  Rand  were  soon  interrupted  by  a  jour- 
ney to  Washington,  with  an  absence  from  the  office  from  Feb. 
17  to  April  4.  He  had  for  some  time  felt  a  strong  desire 
to  visit  the  national  Capital.  He  wished  to  see  and  hear  the 
eminent  statesmen  of  the  time,  and  particularly  to  attend  a  ses- 
sion of  the  Supreme  Court.  It  would  be  a  satisfaction  also  to 
see  Judge  Story,  whom  he  had  known  so  well  as  professor,  per- 
forming his  high  duties  as  judge.  The  Supreme  Court  of  the 
United  States,  with  Marshall  as  chief-justice,  held  at  that  period, 
—  when  the  States  were  few  and  the  best  professional  training 
was  confined  very  much  to  the  Atlantic  States,  —  a  larger  place 
relatively  than  it  now  holds  among  the  judicial  institutions  of  the 
country.  Young  lawyers  then,  more  than  at  present,  sought  as 
pilgrims  this  fountain  of  learning  and  authority.  National  poli- 
tics then  drew  to  the  seat  of  government  the  highest  talent 
more  than  now,  when  intellectual  power  finds  a  larger  oppor- 
tunity than  formerly  at  the  bar  of  commercial  cities,  or  in  other 
fields  of  distinction.      Neither  before  nor  since  in  our  history 

1  Jan.  1834,  Vol  XI.  pp.  101-105. 

2  April,  1834,  Vol.  XI.  pp.  320-338. 

8  July,  1834,  Vol.  XII.  pp.  5-66.  The  materials  for  this  article  were  largely  furnished 
by  a  memorandum-book,  in  which,  beginning  with  1832,  he  had  been  accustomed  to  write, 
from  time  to  time,  opinions  of  law  books  gathered  in  his  reading. 

*  July,  1834,  Vol.  XII.  pp.  104-117.  Browne  wrote,  July  24,  "Your  article  on  'Re- 
plevin '  was  learned,  and  well  and  logically  expressed.  It  was  an  extraordinary  article  for 
a  young  man;  but  it  is  not  practical.  You  seem  to  delight  in  the  speculative  in  the  choice 
of  your  articles." 

6  July,  1834,  Vol.  XII.  pp.  248-270. 


JEt.  23.]  VISIT  TO  WASHINGTON.  125 

have  three  men  of  equal  fame  as  orators  with  Webster,  Cal- 
houn, and  Clay  ever  contended  with  each  other  in  our  national 
Senate. 

The  love  of  travel  was  with  Sumner  an  inherited  passion, 
which  his  brothers  also  shared.  The  journey  to  Washington 
now  accomplished  in  seventeen  hours,  in  a  railway  carriage 
furnished  like  a  drawing-room  by  day  and  provided  with  couches 
at  night,  is  at  once  an  easy  and  a  commonplace  experience.  It 
was  then  made  only  by  stage-coach  and  steamboat,  except  a 
short  railway  ride  from  Amboy  to  Bordentown  (thirty-seven 
miles),  and  another  from  the  Delaware  River  to  the  head  of 
the  Elk  (sixteen  and  a  half).  With  the  dispatch  of  these  days 
Sumner  would,  by  the  time  he  then  reached  Hartford,  have  been 
some  hours  at  his  journey's  end. 

At  Washington  he  passed  a  month,  occupying  a  room  in  the 
house  of  Mrs.  Eliza  Peyton,  at  the  corner  of  Pennsylvania  Ave- 
nue and  Four-and-a-half  Street.  Among  her  guests  were  several 
members  of  Congress  and  other  persons  of  distinction ;  most 
worthy  of  note  among  them  was  Dr.  Francis  Lieber,  between 
whom  and  Sumner  a  long  intimacy  now  began.1  Mrs.  Peyton 
recalls  the  tall  youth  from  Boston,  sitting  with  the  guests  who 
gathered  at  the  fireside  in  the  large  parlor.  Dr.  John  B.  Blake, 
a  fellow-boarder,  still  living  in  Washington,  remembers  him  as 
modest  and  deferential,  attracting  attention  by  his  remarkable 
attainments  and  manly  presence,  and  receiving  from  the  judges 
unusual  civilities.  Dr.  Blake  went  so  far  at  the  time  as  to  pre- 
dict for  him  the  highest  judicial  station,  unless  he  should  be 
diverted  by  literary  tastes.2 

The  commendation  of  Judge  Story  opened  to  him  the  best 
social  opportunities.  He  dined  with  the  judges;  made  the 
acquaintance  of  Henry  Wheaton  ;  and  "  dined  repeatedly  with 
Horace  Binney,  and  received  many  marks  of  friendly  attention 
from  him."  3  Richard  Peters  of  Philadelphia,  the  official  reporter 
of  the  decisions  of  the  Supreme  Court,  —  whom  he  had  previously 


1  They  were  introduced  to  each  other  by  a  note  of  Richard  Peters,  commending  Dr. 
Lieber  to  Sumner. 

2  Dr.  Blake's  reminiscences  of  Sumner  at  the  time  of  this  visit  were  printed  in  the 
Washington  "  Weekly  Republican,"  March  19,  1874. 

8  Sumner  had  through  life  a  profound  respect  for  Mr.  Binney's  character.  In  an 
address  to  the  Law  School  of  Howard  University,  Feb.  3,  1871,  he  spoke  of  "  the  venerable 
Horace  Binney,  as  the  living  head  of  the  profession  in  our  country."  Mr.  Binney  died, 
August,  1875,  at  the  age  of  ninety-five. 


126  MEMOIR  OF  CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1834. 

met  at  Cambridge,  and  who  was  a  devoted  friend  of  Judge 
Story,  —  conceived  a  strong  regard  for  him  at  this  time,  and  a 
frequent  correspondence  between  them  followed.1  Mr.  Peters 
kindly  said  to  him,  in  Washington,  that  he  should  before  long 
have  occasion  to  print  his  name  in  his  reports  as  counsel  before 
the  Supreme  Court.  During  this  visit  he  first  met  Samuel 
Lawrence,  who  afterwards  showed  him  substantial  kindnoss. 
He  undertook  to  serve  a  lawyer,  a  college  friend,  who  was 
prosecuting  a  claim  against  the  United  States,  —  and  this 
friendly  agency  brought  him  into  personal  relations  with  Ru- 
fus  Choate,  then  a  member  of  the  House  of  Representatives. 
He  left  Washington,  after  a  month's  sojourn,  with  little  expec- 
tation of  ever  seeing  the  city  again,  with  an  increased  love  of 
his  chosen  profession,  and  with  a  strong  aversion  to  politics. 

On  his  way  home  he  passed  some  days  in  Philadelphia,  where 
he  seems  to  have  enjoyed  himself  heartily ;  dining  one  day  at 
the  house  of  Joseph  R.  Ingersoll,2  "  in  a  large  and  splendid 
company,"  and  passing  his  evenings  with  the  family  of  Mr. 
Peters.  He  left  the  city  with  a  lively  impression  of  the  hospi- 
tality of  the  people.  One  of  the  daughters  of  Mr.  Peters 
pleased  him  much  with  her  excellent  imitation  of  Miss  Kemble's 
acting.  With  another  daughter,  then  quite  a  young  girl,  he 
talked  much  concerning  her  studies,  and  afterwards  sought,  by 
his  letters,  to  foster  her  literary  inclinings.  Her  vivid  recollec- 
tions of  him,  as  he  appeared  at  this  period,  find  a  place  in  this 
chapter. 

His  father  wrote  to  him,  while  he  was  in  Washington,  a 
letter  as  stately  as  it  was  paternal,  sending  a  friendly  message 
to  Governor  Lincoln,  enjoining  upon  his  son  to  visit  the  grave 
of  Vice-president  Gerry,  and  also  that  of  William  Wirt  who 
had  died  Feb.  18,  and  ending  with  "macte  virtute,  puerT 
His  brother  Henry  and  his  sister  Mary  added  playful  postscripts 
to  the  father's  letter.  Professor  Greenleaf  gratefully  acknowl- 
edged his  reports  of  his  visit  to  Chancellor  Kent  and  of  life  in 
Washington. 

One  of  the  daughters  of  Mr.  Peters  thus  describes  him  at  this 
time :  — 

1  Mr.  Peters  was  fond  of  society,  entertaining  in  conversation,  and  full  of  wit  and  anec- 
dote. He  lived  till  May  1,  1848.  His  intimate  relations  with  Judge  Story  appear  in  the 
latter's  "Life  and  Letters." 

2  1786-1868.  Mr.  Ingersoll  was  a  member  of  Congress,  1835-37,  and  again  1842-49. 
and  Minister  to  England,  1850-53. 


.Ex.  23.]  VISIT  TO  PHILADELPHIA.  127 

"  It  was  somewhere  about  1832  I  think,  in  the  summer-time,  that  Charles 
Sumner  led  me  —  then  a  little  girl  —  and  my  father  over  Harvard  Library; 
and  it  has  always  been  to  me  a  beautiful  memory,  —  the  recollection  of  this 
slender,  bright-eyed  youth,  with  what  seemed  to  me  an  adoring  reverence  for 
the  hallowed  spot,  so  that  his  voice  was  subdued  and  his  touch  rested  ten- 
derly on  the  dear  books  as  he  stood  showing  them  to  my  father. 

"  When  he  came  to  Philadelphia  in  1834,  he  had  finished  his  course  at 
the  Law  School,  I  think ;  but  had  almost  put  his  eyes  out  with  hard  study,  and 
was  forced  to  come  away  for  rest.  He  was  then  a  great,  tall,  lank  creature, 
quite  heedless  of  the  form  and  fashion  of  his  garb,  '  unsophisticated,' 
everybody  said,  and  oblivious  of  the  propriety  of  wearing  a  hat  in  a  city, 
going  about  in  a  rather  shabby  fur  cap ;  but  the  fastidiousness  of  fashionable 
ladies  was  utterly  routed  by  the  wonderful  charm  of  his  conversation,  and  he 
was  carried  about  triumphantly,  and  introduced  to  all  the  distinguished  peo- 
ple, young  and  old,  who  then  made  Philadelphia  society  so  brilliant.  No 
amount  of  lionizing,  however,  could  then  affect  him.  His  simplicity,  his 
perfect  naturalness,  was  what  struck  every  one,  combined  with  his  rare  cult- 
ure and  his  delicious  youthful  enthusiasm. 

"My  mother  became  very  much  interested  in  him,  and  thought  his  mother 
must  be  very  proud  of  him. 

"  He  was  almost  beside  himself  then  over  Fanny  Kemble's  acting;  used 
to  walk,  he  said,  that  winter  to  and  from  Boston,  through  snow  and  storm, 
to  see  her  act.  One  of  my  sisters  had  a  singular  ability  in  imitating 
this  gifted  woman's  acting  and  reading,  and  it  was  Charles  Sumner's  delight 
to  insist  on  this  rather  shy  lady's  '  performing  '  for  him.  His  exclamation 
was,  '  By  George,  that's  fine  !  By  George,  that's  fine,  Miss  S. !  Give  it  to 
us  again  :  now,  Miss  S.l  The  "  Do  it "  point,  — the  "  Do  it  "  point '  (from 
Sheridan  Knowles'  '  Hunchback  ,).1  And  striking  his  great  hands  together 
and  heaving  them  about  like  Dominie  Sampson,  and  striding  up  and  down 
the  room,  he  would  keep  repeating,  '  By  George,  that's  fine ! ' 

"  Every  one  was  sorry  when  he  left  town,  and  from  that  time  his  name 
was  really  a  household  word  with  us.  There  was  a  sweetness  and  tenderness 
of  character  about  him,  and  an  entire  unworldliness  that  won  all  hearts, 
while  his  delightful  culture  completed  the  charm. 

"  My  father  was  exceedingly  fond  of  Mr.  Sumner  from  his  youth.  He 
knew  all  about  him,  sometime  before  the  visit  to  Philadelphia  in  1834,  from 
Judge  Story;  and  believed  with  that  dear  friend  that  all  possibilities  for  a 
legal  and  literary  career  of  great  brilliancy  lay  before  this  young  man,  so 
gifted,  so  fond  of  culture,  so  persevering  in  the  study  of  his  profession,  so 
appreciative  of,  and  so  enthusiastic  for,  all  that  is  good  and  fine." 

Shortly  after  Sumner's  return  from  Washington,  Judge  Story- 
pressed  him  to  accept  a  connection  with  the  Law  School  as 
instructor;  but  the  offer  was  declined.     An  extract  from  his 

1  Act  V.    Scene  3. 


128  MEMOIR  OF  CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1834. 

classmate  Browne's  letter,  of  May  2,  shows  the  latter's  view  of 
Sumner's  probable  future :  — 

"In  the  concluding  lines -of  your  letter,  which  I  received  this  morning, 
you  seemed  to  see  and  lament  the  course  which  fortune  and  your  stars 
appear  to  have  marked  out  for  you.  I  see  no  reason  for  lamentation,  but 
rather  much  for  congratulation  and  rejoicing.  The  course  of  events,  or 
rather  your  own  might  and  main,  have  opened  to  you  the  very  path  your  feet 
were  made  to  tread.  Let  me  speak  plainly  what  I  plainly  discern  and  feel. 
You  are  not  rough-shod  enough  to  travel  in  the  stony  and  broken  road  of 
homely,  harsh,  every-day  practice.  You  were  neither  made  for  it  by  the 
hand  of  Nature,  nor  have  you  wrought  and  fashioned  yourself  to  it  by  that 
less  cunning  but  still  most  potent  artificer,  —  practice.  All  your  inclinations 
(I  do  not  see  through  a  glass  darkly)  and  all  your  habits  set  you  on  with  a 
strong  tendency  toward  a  green  eminence  of  fame  and  emolument  in  your 
profession;  but  you  are  not  destined  to  reach  it  by  travelling  through  the 
ordinary  business  of  a  young  lawyer  in  the  courts.  You  see  that  yourself, 
and  you  affect  to  be  sad  thereat.  Instead  of  looking  back  with  regret  to  the 
practice  which  you  are  to  leave  to  other  spirits  touched  less  finely,  and  to 
far  less  fine  issues,  you  should  reserve  both  your  eyes  to  look  forward  and 
see  the  reasons  of  rejoicing.  By  all  means  take  up  the  offer  of  the  judge, 
and  never  think  of  opening  an  office  in  the  city.  If,  before  the  day  of  ser- 
vice upon  your  post,  you  have  an  offer  from  some  established  man  with  large 
business  and  a  good  library,  then  deliberate,  then  suffer  yourself  to  institute 
comparisons  between  that  and  the  station  in  the  Law  School;  but  not  till 
then.  If  such  a  chance  should  occur,  the  judge  would  be  one  of  the  fore- 
most to  relinquish  his  hold  on  you." 

A  few  weeks  before  Sumner's  admission  to  the  bar,  the  Ursu- 
line  Convent  at  Charlestown  was  burned,  Aug.  11,  by  a  mob. 
The  authorities  of  Harvard  College  seriously  apprehended  a  re- 
taliatory attack  by  the  Catholics  upon  the  college  buildings,  and 
particularly  upon  the  library,  then  kept  in  Harvard  Hall.  The 
students  were  absent  upon  their  vacation  ;  and  Rev.  Mr.  Palfrey, 
Dean  of  the  Divinity  Faculty,  undertook  to  collect  a  volunteer 
guard  among  the  recent  graduates.  One  of  seventy  men  was 
gathered  for  one  night,  commanded  by  Franklin  Dexter ;  and 
another  of  like  number  for  the  next  night,  commanded  by  David 
Lee  Child  and  George  W.  Phillips,  —  and  the  two  guards  alter- 
nated. Sumner  was  a  private  in  the  second  guard ;  and,  armed 
with  a  musket,  left  his  father's  house  at  evening  to  do  duty  at 
Cambridge,  while  the  alarm  lasted.  The  story  is  told  of  him, 
that,  as  they  were  quartered  in  Harvard  Hall  for  the  night, 
he  started  the  question  whether  the  guard  had  been  assembled 
and  was   acting  under  due  corporate  authority,  —  a   legal   in- 


iEx.  23.]  ADMISSION  TO  THE  BAR.  129 

quiry,  which,  under  the  circumstances,  somewhat  amused  his 
companions. 

At  the  beginning  of  September,  1834,  Sumner,  anxious  to 
enter  at  once  on  practice,  —  there  being  no  court  in  session  at 
Boston  having  authority  to  grant  admissions  to  the  bar,  —  applied 
to  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas,  sitting  in  Worcester  (Chief- 
Justice  John  M.  Williams,  presiding),  where  on  the  third  of 
that  month  he  was  admitted  as  an  attorney,  after  a  recommen- 
dation by  the  bar  of  Worcester  County,  of  which  Pliny  Merrick 
and  Charles  Allen  were  then  the  leaders.  D.  Waldo  Lincoln,1 
a  fellow  student  in  College  and  at  the  Law  School,  who  was 
admitted  at  the  same  time,  interested  himself  in  the  preliminary 
arrangements  for  Sumner's  admission. 


LETTERS. 


TO  HIS  FAMILY  AT  HOME,   BOSTON. 

Steamer  "  Splendid,"  from  New  Haven  to  New  York, 
Wednesday,  Feb.  19,  1834. 

To  my  dear  Home,  —  The  steamer  is  now  fast  going  to  New  York, 
where  I  shall  be  at  two  o'clock  this  afternoon.  There  is  something  impos- 
ing in  the  thought,  that  one  with  so  many  accommodations  as  I  now  see 
about  me  is  moving  on  his  journey  at  the  rate  of  twelve  or  fourteen  miles 
an  hour.  The  boat  has  about  sixty  passengers  on  board,  and  we  have  all 
just  risen  from  a  well-prepared  breakfast  at  a  table  the  full  length  of  the 
cabin.  It  is  thus  that  we  enjoy  the  comforts  and  luxuries  of  the  best  hotels, 
and  still  keep  moving  on  our  way.  The  motion  of  the  boat  is  delightful ; 
nothing  to  occasion  sickness;  the  sea  is  placid  as  a  mirror;  wild  fowl  (im- 
mense flocks  of  geese)  are  swimming  upon  its  surf  ace ;  the  sun  is  bright  over- 
head ;  the  air  is  pure  and  the  day  clear.  Such  is  the  happy  scene  through 
which  I  am  now  hurrying,  —  a  scene  most  unlike  that  of  the  last  two  days, 
which  has  been  marred  by  all  the  fatigue  and  discomfort  of  the  most  wretched 
roads  and,  generally  speaking,  equally  wretched  conveyances.  If  the  roads 
had  been  good,  I  should  have  probably  been  at  this  time  on  my  way  for 
Philadelphia.     I  have  lost  a  day. 

We  started  from  Boston  at  half  past  three  o'clock  2  Monday  morning,  with 

1  Lincoln  was  the  son  of  Governor  Lincoln,  for  whom  Sumner's  father  cherished  a  lively 
gratitude.    Ante,  pp.  21,  22. 

2  Before  leaving,  that  morning,  he  wrote  a  note  to  Professor  Greenleaf,  accompanying  a 
copy  of  Story's  "Conflict  of  Laws,"  just  issued,  which  the  judge  had  requested  him  to  send 
as  the  author's  gift. 

>^ 

VOL.    I.  0 


171- 


130  MEMOIR   OF   CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1834 

twelve  passengers  and  their  full  complement  of  baggage  on  board,  and  with 
six  horses.  The  way  wras  very  dark;  so  that,  though  I  rode  with  the  driver, 
it  was  some  time  before  I  discovered  that  we  had  six  horses.  Light  overtook 
us  at  Newton  Falls,  about  ten  miles  from  the  city;  breakfasted  at  Natick, 
sixteen  miles;  part  of  us,  then,  for  thirty  miles,  rode  in  a  crazy  wagon;  after 
that  I  rode  sixteen  miles  alone  in  a  gig,  driving  a  horse  that  Rosinante  would 
not  have  owned  as  a  kinsman,  over  roads  almost  impassable  to  the  best  ani- 
mals ;  every  step  my  horse  took  was  caused  by  a  blow  from  my  whip.  It  "was 
thus  I  rode,  — literally  working  my  passage,  as  much  as  he  did  who  drove  the 
horse  on  the  canal.  My  shoulder  was  lame  from  its  excessive  exercise  in 
whipping  the  poor  brute.  I  arrived  at  Thompson,  the  first  town  we  enter 
in  Connecticut,  about  three  o'clock,  p.  m.,  —  about  sixty  miles  from  Boston. 
Here  we  dined,  and  again  started  weary  on  our  way,  with  forty  miles  of  heavy 
travelling  before  us:  changed  horses  every  sixteen  miles.  The  moon  was  up, 
making  the  road  less  gloomy  than  it  otherwise  would  have  been ;  but  even 
this  deserted  us  before  we  arrived  at  Hartford,  which  was  not  till  three 
o'clock  of  Tuesday  morning,  having  been  on  the  road  twenty-three  hours. 
I  sat  with  the  driver  all  the  time,  and  was  only  sick  for  an  hour  or  so  in  the 
evening  of  Monday.  The  cold  wras  benumbing  during  that  night;  so  much 
so  that  the  experienced  driver  complained.  No  sound  could  have  been  more 
grateful  than  that  of  the  heavy  tramp  of  the  horses  over  the  sounding  cov- 
ered bridge  that  leads  into  Hartford.  Had  we  arrived  in  proper  season,  we 
should  have  jumped  aboard  the  stage  to  New  Haven,  and  gone  directly  there 
to  take  the  steamer,  Tuesday  morning,  at  seven  o'clock.  Upon  arriving  at 
the  hotel,  I  warmed  myself,  and  then  went  to  bed  to  snatch  an  hour  of  sleep. 
In  a  short  time  1  was  perfectly  rested ;  enjoyed  a  good  breakfast;  walked 
through  some  of  the  fine  streets  of  Hartford;  visited  the  court,  there  holding 
by  C.  J.  Daggett,  to  whom  I  sent  the  kind  note  and  package,  Mr.  Greenleaf 
had  furnished  me.  At  eleven  o'clock,  a.  m.,  started  from  Hartford  for  New 
Haven,  — a  route  of  forty  miles,  —  where  we  arrived  at  eight  o'clock  in  the 
evening,  having  a  very  pleasant  journey  so  far  as  a  good  driver  and  good 
weather  could  make  it  so,  and  without  feeling  sick  in  the  least.  Wednesday 
morning  attended  prayers  at  Yale  College,  which  act  nearly  cost  me  my  pas- 
sage to  New  York,  —  certainly  fifty  cents  to  get  my  baggage  to  the  boat,  the 
stages  appointed  to  take  me  and  it  having  gone.  I  ran  till  my  wind  was 
most  gone,  and  thus  secured  my  place.     The  boat  started  at  seven  o'clock  in 

the  morning. 

Chas. 


Travelling  is  very  expensive,  —  thus  far  full  thirty  per  cent  above 
my  calculations.  This  is  owing  to  the  delays,  bad  roads,  and  to  the  season 
of  the  year. 

I  am  very  thankful  to  Mary  for  her  tippet;  without  it  I  should  have 
frozen. 


JEt.  23.  |  CALL  ON  CHANCELLOR  KENT.  131 


TO  PROFESSOR  SIMON  GREENLEAF,  CAMBRIDGE,   MASS. 

New  York,  Wednesday  Evening,  Feb.  19,  1834. 

"  That  Mr.  Greenleaf  is  a  civil  sort  of  a  man,"  said  Chancellor  Kent,  this 
afternoon,  to  me,  after  he  had  slowly  and  fully  read  your  kind  letter  of  intro- 
duction. "  He  was  a  great  loss  to  the  profession  at  Portland;  makes  a  fine 
professor,  I  have  no  doubt,"  he  continued.  To  all  of  which  I  of  course 
sincerely  responded. 

I  called  upon  the  chancellor  at  his  house,  two  or  three  miles  from  the 
heart  of  the  city  where  I  was.  at  about  half-past  four  o'clock  in  the  after- 
noon. I  handed  him  your  letter ;  he  asked  me  to  sit.  It  was  in  a  parlor  that 
I  saw  him,  with  a  young  lady  and  an  infant,  probably  the  family  of  his  son. 
He  received  me  cordially ;  talked  fast  and  instructively,  but  without  elegance 
or  grammar  (however, /a^sa  grammatica  non  vitiat) ;  praised  the  civil  law  highly ; 
thought  Livermore's  bequest  a  splendid  one;  liked  the  civil  law,  all  but  that 
relating  to  husband  and  wife,  —  he  would  stick  to  the  common  law  on  that 
subject;  spoke  with  warmth  of  the  present  politics;  thought  Jackson  would 
ruin  us;  wanted  to  go  to  Washington,  but  if  he  went  should  be  obliged  to  see 
much  company,  call  upon  Jackson,  and  dine  with  him  perhaps,  all  of  which 
he  could  not  consent  to  do;  were  he  there,  he  should  associate  with  such  men 
as  Webster ;  trusted  next  spring  that  he  should  visit  the  great  valley  of  the 
West,  which  he  wished  much  to  see,  as  he  had  a  great  passion  for  natural 
scenery;  said  he  never  wrote  an  article  for  a  review  in  his  life;  had  just 
written  with  considerable  pains  a  life  of  General  Schuyler  for  the  "  Portrait 
Gallery,"  which  he  had  condensed  as  much  as  possible,  to  suit  the  dimensions 
required  for  that  publication;  spoke  of  the  "  North  American  "  and  the  other 
reviews;  said  that  he  read  them  all,  — he  had  nothing  else  to  do  now;  invited 
me  up  into  his  room,  so  he  called  it,  where  he  introduced  me  to  Mrs.  Kent, 
and  showed  me  his  library  with  a  good  deal  of  particularity;  pointed  out  the 
"  Waverley  Novels,"  Miss  Edgeworth's,  &c,  and  long  rows  of  the  reviews 
bound;  also  a  very  large  collection  of  pamphlets,  making  ninety-five  volumes, 
which  he  had  collected  since  he  was  a  young  man,  —  that  is,  said  he,  within 
the  last  fifty  years;  showed  me  also  "  Greenleaf 's  Reports;"  said  he  set 
much  by  that  man;  showed  me  the  blank  leaves  of  the  first  volume,  in  which 
he  had  written  the  time  of  your  appointment  as  professor,  and  the  testimonial 
of  their  regard  offered  by  the  Portland  Bar,  including  in  quotation  marks 
the  comparison  run  between  your  reports  and  those  of  Johnson  and  Binney : 
he  had  wafered  into  the  first  volume  of  "  Greenleaf 's  Reports  "  your  letter  to 
him  presenting  the  book,  which  he  said  he  had  done  to  preserve  how  you  had 
honored  him.  I  bid  him  good-by.  He  told  me  to  give  his  regards  to  Judge 
Story:  but  as  to  Jackson,  he  had  none  for  him. 

Kent  has  great  simplicity  and  freedom  of  manners ;  he  opens  himself  like 
a  child.  This,  though,  I  attributed  partly  to  a  harmless  vanity.  He  undoubt- 
edly knows  that  he  is  a  lion,  and  he  therefore  offers  himself  readily  for  exhi- 
bition. Indeed,  he  seemed  to  be  unfolding  his  character  and  studies,  &c,  to 
me,  as  if  purposely  to  let  me  know  the  whole  bent  and  scope  of  his  mind 


132  MEMOIR  OF  CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1834. 

I  thought  more  than  once  that  he  was  sitting  for  his  picture.     Many  more 
things  I  can  tell  you  when  I  see  you. 

As  I  passed  through  Hartford,  I  saw  Judge  Daggett  on  the  bench.  Not 
having  time  to  stop,  I  enclosed  your  favor  in  a  note,  in  which  I  expressed  a 
wish  to  consider  your  letter  as  a  continuing  introduction,  if,  upon  my  return, 
I  should  find  him  at  home  and  disengaged. 

I  am  now  in  the  great  Babel.  Every  thing  is  in  a  whirl.  Boston  seems 
small  and  thinly  peopled  compared  with  this  mammoth  place. 

Here,  as  elsewhere,  I  am 

Yours  affectionately, 

Chas.  Sumner. 


TO  HIS  PARENTS. 

Philadelphia,  Friday  Evening,  Feb.  21. 

My  dear  Parents,  —  Since  writing  you  from  the  steamboat,  I  have 
flown  many  rapid  miles  further  on  my  journey,  tried  a  novel  conveyance,  and 
seen  the  two  most  extensive  cities  of  this  part  of  the  world.  Indeed,  Boston 
is  but  a  baby  compared  with  the  mammoth  size  of  these  two  places.  New 
York  is  one  perpetual  whirl  and  bustle;  the  streets  flow  with  throngs,  as 
thick  and  pressing  as  those  of  Boston  on  a  gala  day.  Carriages  of  all  sorts 
are  hurrying  by;  omnibuses  and  Broadway  coaches  for  the  conveyance  of 
citizens  up  and  down  their  miles  of  streets  are  perpetually  in  sight.  Stores, 
almost  infinite  in  number  and  variety,  line  the  long  streets.  One  must  be 
wide  awake,  or  he  will  run  over  or  be  run  over  by  some  of  the  crowd.  One 
minute  after  I  had  left  the  steamboat  was  enough  to  let  me  know  that  I  was 
in  a  place  under  different  influences  from  Boston;  where  business  was  pushed 
to  its  extremest  points,  and  all  the  available  energies  of  men  were  put  in 
requisition.  I  fancy  that  I  can  see  a  vast  increase  since  I  was  there  five  years 
ago.     This  may  be  attributed  in  part  to  my  being  more  of  an  observer  now. 

I  arrived  at  New  York  at  two  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  of  Wednesday;  had 
my  baggage  carried  to  the  "  American ;  "  was  cheated  by  the  porter;  changed 
my  coat,  &c. ,  and  sallied  out  to  walk  round  the  city,  to  drop  my  many  letters 
into  the  post-office,  and  to  call  upon  Chancellor  Kent.  It  was  with  some 
difficulty  that  I  found  him,  living  as  he  does  at  an  extreme  part  of  the  city, 
in  a  splendid  house,  where  a  year  ago,  as  he  told  me,  was  a  pasture.  I  jumped 
into  a  Broadway  coach,  and  was  conveyed  somewhere  near  his  residence.  I 
found  him  in  a  parlor ;  was  waited  upon  by  him  into  his  study ;  shown  his 
law  and  miscellaneous  library;  his  manuscript  comments  upon  the  books  and 
reviews  he  reads,  —  and  he  reads  every  thing  legal  and  literary  that  is  pub- 
lished; his  interleaved  copy  of  his  Commentaries,  in  which  he  is  making 
additional  references,  explanations,  &c. ;  was  invited  to  tea,  which  I  de- 
clined, and  to  call  as  I  returned.  Kent's  conversation  is  lively  and  instruct- 
ive, but  grossly  ungrammatical.  It  is  a  wonder  which  I  cannot  solve,  that 
he  is  so  correct  a  writer  (I  do  not  think  very  highly  of  his  taste  as  a  writer) 
and  so  incorrect  a  converser.     The  same  evening,  after  my  interview  with 


JET.2Z.]  FIRST   RAILWAY  RIDE.  133 

Kent,  I  wrote  a  full  letter  to  Professor  Greenleaf ,  giving  him  an  account 
of  it. 

Thursday  morning,  at  seven  o'clock,  my  baggage  was  in  the  hands  of  a 
porter,  to  be  conveyed  to  the  Philadelphia  boat.  And  here  was  a  delightful 
passage.  First,  thirty  miles  in  a  fast-sailing,  spacious  boat  to  Amboy ;  thence, 
thirty-seven  miles  on  the  railway,  which  we  travelled  in  about  two  hours, 
part  of  the  way  going  at  the  rate  of  more  than  twenty  miles  an  hour.  The 
interval  between  landing  from  the  steamboat  and  starting  on  the  railway  was 
but  a  minute.  All  the  baggage  was  taken  from  the  boat  in  one  crate  and  put 
into  a  car;  the  passengers,  about  thirty,  jumped  into  the  different  carriages, 
all  attached  to  one  steam-carriage,  and  were  soon  far  on  our  way,  —  moving 
fast  but  very  gentle,  —  bowling  through  the  sandy  desert  or  pine-clad  plains 
of  Xew  Jersey.  At  distances  of  about  twelve  miles  the  machine  stopped  for 
three  minutes  to  take  in  water;  the  bell  rang,  and  we  were  again  on  our 
"  winding  way."  At  Bordentown  —  the  residence  of  Joseph  Bonaparte  —  we 
took  the  boat  again.  The  crate  of  baggage  was  swung  into  the  boat,  the 
bell  rang,  and  we  were  soon  pushing  the  water  away  before  us,  and  leaving 
a  wake  as  far  back  as  the  eye  could  reach.  At  four  o'clock  —  after  going 
thirty  miles  —  we  were  in  Philadelphia,  the  city  of  straight  streets  and  mar- 
ble edifices.  I  called  upon  Mr.  Walsh;1  was  received  kindly,  &c. :  called 
upon  Mr.  Troubat; 2  on  his  invitation  determined  to  stay  one  day  in  the  city, 
to  attend  the  courts.  To-day  have  attended  the  courts ;  visited  the  water- 
works ;  seen  my  old  schoolmate  Peabody,  who  is  a  merchant  here  and  boards 
where  I  am  stopping.    I  shall  start  for  Baltimore  to-morrow  at  seven  o'clock. 

Your  prodigal  son, 

Chas. 


TO  HIS  PARENTS. 

Washington,  Monday,  Feb.  24,  1834. 
My  dear  Parents,  —  Here  I  am  in  the  great  city,  or  rather  the  city  of 
great  design,  of  spacious  and  far-reaching  streets,  without  houses  to  adorn 
them  or  business  to  keep  them  lively,  with  a  Capitol  that  would  look  proud 
amidst  any  European  palaces,  and  with  whole  lines  of  houses,  which  resem- 
ble much  the  erections  at  Cambridgeport  and  Lechmere  Point,  — poor,  stunted 
brick  houses,  with  stores  beneath  and  boarding  above.  There  is  nothing 
natural  in  the  growth  of  the  city.  It  only  grows  under  the  hot-bed  culture 
of  Congress.  There  is  no  confluence  of  trade  from  different  parts  of  the 
country,  and  no  natural  commercial  or  manufacturing  advantages  to  induce 
persons  to  live  here.  So,  for  aught  I  see,  it  must  for  ever  remain  as  it  is 
now,  —  a  place  of  winter  resort,  as  the  Springs  are  of  summer  resort,  and  be 
supported  entirely  by  travellers  and  sojourners.  I  arrived  here  last  evening, 
at  about  six  o'clock,  and  as  yet  have  only  seen  the  outside  of  the  Capitol; 

l  Robert  Walsh,  then  editor  of  the  "National  Gazette." 
a  Francis  J.  Troubat. 


134  MEMOIR   OF  CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1834. 

have  not  seen,  except  from  a  distance,  the  President's  house;  and  have  not 
traversed  the  city.  All  these  are  the  pleasures  of  to-day.  I  called  first 
upon  Judge  Story;  found  him  boarding,  with  the  rest  of  the  court,  in  a  house 
near  the  Capitol;  was  most  kindly  received  by  him.  He  wished  me  to  tell 
you  that  he  should  take  good  care  of  me. 

I  left  Philadelphia  Friday  morning  at  seven  o'clock,  in  the  boat  "  William 
Penn,"  —  a  large  and  ample  establishment,  —  sailed  forty  miles  down  the 
Delaware  to  Newcastle;  jumped  into  a  railroad-car,  and  in  an  hour  and  five 
minutes,  by  Henry's  watch,  passed  through  the  State  of  Delaware  to  French- 
town,  at  the  head  of  Elk  River,  —  General  Washington's  headquarters,  —  a 
distance  of  sixteen  and  a  half  miles;  then  took  the  steamer  "  Charles  Car- 
roll" for  Baltimore,  down  the  Elk  and  Chesapeake  and  up  the  Patapsco, 
upon  which  Baltimore  is  situated,  —  a  distance  of  sixty-four  miles,  —  arriv- 
ing at  Baltimore  at  six  o'clock  in  the  evening,  where  I  stopped  at  Barnum's 
till  the  next  morning,  being  Sunday,  at  eight  and  a  half  o'clock,  when  I 
started  for  Washington,  mounting  my  last  stage.  The  distance  is  but  thirty- 
eight  miles,  yet  we  were  till  night  laboring  over  the  road,  —  the  worst  I  was 
ever  upon.  The  whole  country  was  barren  and  cheerless;  houses  were 
sprinkled  very  thinly  on  the  road,  and  when  they  did  appear  they  were  little 
better  than  hovels, — mere  log-huts,  which  father  will  remember,  though 
none  else  of  the  family  may  be  able  to  conceive  them.  For  the  first  time  I 
saw  slaves,  and  my  worst  preconception  of  their  appearance  and  ignorance 
did  not  fall  as  low  as  their  actual  stupidity.  They  appear  to  be  nothing 
more  than  moving  masses  of  flesh,  unendowed  with  any  thing  of  intelligence 
above  the  brutes.  I  have  now  an  idea  of  the  blight  upon  that  part  of  our 
country  in  which  they  live. 

At  these  headquarters  of  politics,  I  shall  see  the  men  of  the  land,  and 
ascertain  their  relative  standing.  The  present  prospects  are  represented  as 
unpromising  in  the  extreme.  The  majority  of  the  Senate,  having  the  great 
weight  of  talent,  are  against  Jackson  and  his  measures  relating  to  the  de- 
posits. In  the  House  it  is  the  other  way.  The  Legislature  of  Pennsylvania 
have  the  question  now  before  them ;  and  it  is  said  that  upon  their  proceed- 
ings depends  the  fate  of  the  measure.  If  they  go  against  Jackson,  their  large 
delegation  will  swing  round  directly,  and  give  the  day  to  the  opposition. 
Jackson  is  represented  as  uncompromising  and  violent,  determined  to  hold 
on  in  his  course  till  he  can  no  longer. 

The  city  is  full  of  travellers.  I  am  now  at  Brown's,  but  I  hope  to  find 
some  private  boarding-place  in  the  course  of  the  day. 

My  expenses  to  this  time  have  been  something  over  thirty  dollars.  I  wish 
I  had  twenty  dollars  more  with  me.  I  hardly  think  I  shall  have  occasion  for 
it,  but  it  would  make  me  feel  more  comfortable  to  think  that  there  was  no  risk 
of  my  spending  my  last  dollar  before  I  arrived  home.  I  wish,  of  course,  to  see 
Baltimore  and  also  Philadelphia  more  than  I  have.  While  passing  through 
the  cities  now,  I  should  see  them  so  as  not  hereafter  to  make  a  special  visit 
with  that  view.  Affectionately,  your  prodigal, 

Chas. 


iET.  23.]  LAWYERS  IN  THE   SUPREME   COURT.  135 

TO  PROFESSOR  SIMON  GREENLEAF. 

Washington,  March  3,  1834. 

My  dear  Mr.  Greexleaf, —  Mr.  F.  S.  Key1  is  now  speaking  in  the 
Supreme  Court,  where  I  write  these  lines.  The  case  before  the  court  is  an 
important  one,  between  Amos  Binney  and  the  Chesapeake  Canal,2  —  Key, 
Walter  Jones,  and  Webster  on  one  side,  and  Coxe  and  Swami  on  the  other. 
Key  has  not  prepared  himself,  and  now  speaks  from  his  preparation  on  the 
trial  below,  relying  upon  a  quickness  and  facility  of  language  rather  than 
upon  research.  Walter  Jones,3 —  a  man  of  acknowledged  powers  in  the  law, 
unsurpassed,  if  not  unequalled,  by  any  lawyer  in  the  country,  —  is  in  the 
same  plight.  He  is  now  conning  his  papers  and  maturing  his  points,  —  a 
labor  which,  of  course,  he  should  have  gone  through  before  he  entered  the 
court-room.  And  our  Webster  fills  up  the  remiss  triumvirate.  He,  like 
Jones,  is  doing  the  labor  in  court  which  should  have  been  done  out  of  court. 
In  fact,  politics  have  entirely  swamped  his  whole  time  and  talents.  All  here 
declare  that  he  has  neglected  his  cases  this  term  in  a  remarkable  manner.  It 
is  now  whispered  in  the  room  that  he  has  not  looked  at  the  present  case,4 
though  the  amount  at  stake  is  estimated  at  half  a  million  of  dollars. 

The  insurance  case,5  argued  by  Selden,  of  New  York,  at  Boston  last  year 
before  Judge  Story,  has  been  argued  here  since  my  being  in  town  by  Selden 
on  one  side  and  Charles  G.  Loring  and  Webster  on  the  other  side.  It  was 
Loring's  first  appearance  in  the  Supreme  Court,  and  he  acquitted  himself 
honorably,  drawing  from  Webster  a  practical  compliment,  dictated  probably 
as  much  by  his  own  convenience  as  by  his  sense  of  the  merits  of  the  argu- 
ment, though  they  were  superlative.  He  declined  arguing  the  question  after 
the  learned  argument  of  his  friend,  though  a  very  large  property  was  at  stake, 
—  saying,  that  out  of  respect  to  himself  and  to  the  court  he  wrould  not  pass 
over  superficially,  as  he  necessarily  must,  what  his  friend  had  discussed  so 
thoroughly  and  satisfactorily.  Loring  spoke  from  a  very  full  brief;  was  very 
clear  and  full,  delivering  his  argument  in  a  calm,  undisturbed  manner,  which 
was  a  beautiful  contrast  to  the  rhetorical,  excited,  disturbed,  tinselled  man- 
ner of  Selden,  who  spoke  as  if  addressing  his  constituents  at  the  Park  or  at 
Tammany  Hall.  Loring's  manner  was  that  of  reason.  The  court  and  all 
present  were  highly  impressed. 

We  expect  a  very  interesting  case.  Wheaton  v.  Peters,  —  an  action 
brought  by  Wheaton  (the  old  reporter)  against  Peters  for  publishing  in  his 
"  Condensed  Reports  "  the  twelve  volumes  of  Wheaton,  thus,  as  is  alleged, 
violating  Wrheaton's  copyright.  One  of  the  grounds  of  the  defence  —  and  a 
very  interesting  one  —  is,  that  there  cannot  be  a  copyright  in  the  opinions  of 

1  Francis  Scott  Key,  1779-1843,  author  of  "  The  Star-Spangled  Banner." 

2  8  Peters'  Reports,  p.  201. 

8  1775-1861.  An  eminent  lawyer,  for  many  years  residing  and  practising  his  profession 
at  Washington. 

4  Mr.  Coxe,  counsel  on  the  other  side,  so  informed  Sumner. 

6  Hazard  v.  New  England  Marine  Insurance  Co.,  8  Peters'  Reports,  p.  555;  »  c.  1 
Sumner's  Reports,  p.  218. 


136  MEMOIR  OF   CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1834. 

the  court  published  in  the  Reports.  This  ground  is  strongly  upheld  by  Inger- 
soll,  Peters'  counsel  at  Philadelphia,  in  a  printed  argument,  which  I  have 
read.     John  Sergeant  is  Peters'  counsel,  and  Webster,  Wheaton's.1 

Franklin  Dexter  made  an  argument  here  a  few  days  before  I  came,  which 
gained  him  a  good  reputation.  The  court  this  morning  gave  judgment  for 
his  side.2 

At  this  moment,  Isaac  Hill  has  moved  both  Senators  and  spectators  from 
their  seats  by  undertaking  a  written  speech  about  the  deposits.  The  Senate 
do  not  listen;  but  the  public,  whom  he  will  reach  through  the  press,  will 
listen.  Every  day's  attendance  in  the  political  part  of  the  Capitol  shows  me 
clearly  that  all  speeches  there  are  delivered  to  the  people  beyond,  and  not  to 
the  Senators  or  Representatives  present.  In  the  Supreme  Court,  the  object 
of  speaking  is  to  convince.  The  more  I  see  of  politics  the  more  I  learn  to 
love  law. 

Signs  of  the  deep  distress  of  the  country  are  received  every  day  and  pro- 
claimed in  both  Houses.  Jackson  is  obdurate.  Sanguine  hopes  are  enter- 
tained that  he  will  soon  be  in  a  minority  in  the  House,  as  he  is  in  the 
Senate. 

Judge  Story  has  shown  me  immense  kindness.  He  sends  his  love  to  you. 
He  has  just  come  to  me  from  the  bench,  and  tells  me  to  inform  you  that  he  is 
tired.  You  will  sympathize,  I  have  no  doubt,  with  the  fatigue  of  a  wordy 
argument.  My  love  to  Mrs.  Greenleaf,  and  hope  your  son  is  well  of  that 
cough.  Yours,  as  ever,  affectionately, 

Chas.  Sumner. 


TO  HIS  PARENTS. 

Washington,  March  3,  1834. 
My  dear  Parents,  —  Since  last  I  wrote,  I  have  seen  many  great  men 
and  attended  at  the  Capitol  every  day,  making  the  Supreme  Court  (which  is 
on  the  lower  floor,  in  a  dark  room,  almost  down  cellar)  my  first  object  of 
attention,  the  Senate  my  next,  and  the  House  of  Representatives  my  last. 
There  have  not  been  many  cases  of  interest  in  the  Supreme  Court,  either 
from  the  talents  displayed  by  the  counsel  or  the  character  of  the  questions 
raised.  The  best  argument  I  have  heard  as  yet  was  by  our  Charles  G.  Lor- 
ing.  You,  father,  may  here  see  the  vanity  of  my  journey  in  travelling  so 
many  hundred  miles  at  such  cost,  and  living  here  at  such  cost,  to  confess 
that  the  best  treat  I  have  as  yet  had  in  the  Supreme  Court,  to  attend  which 
was  the  main  object  of  my  visit,  was  from  a  home  lawyer.8  .  .  . 

1  The  brief  of  Mr.  Webster's  argument  in  Wheaton  v.  Peters,  8  Peters'  Reports,  p.  591, 
was  taken  by  Mr.  Peters,  the  reporter,  from  Sumner's  notes,  made  during  the  argument. 
Mr.  Peters  prevailed  in  the  case. 

2  Carrington  v.  Merchants'  Insurance  Co.,  8  Peters'  Reports,  p.  495. 

8  The  omitted  paragraph  is  a  repetition  of  a  part  of  the  letter  of  the  same  date  to  Pro- 
lessor  Greenleaf. 


jEt.28.]         HENRY  CLAY  AS  AN  ORATOR.  137 

I  could  write  a  quire  about  the  different  lawyers  and  the  appearance  of 
the  court,  and  more  about  the  different  judges,  of  whom  I  have  seen  consid- 
erable, having  supped  and  dined  with  them  once  en  famille,  as  it  were,  —  if 
I  may  apply  that  term  where  there  is  no  family.  All  the  judges  board  to- 
gether, having  rooms  in  the  same  house  and  taking  their  meals  from  the  same 
table,  except  Judge  McLean,  whose  wife  is  with  him,  and  who  consequently 
has  a  separate  table,  though  in  the  same  house.  I  dined  with  them  yesterday, 
being  Sunday.  Judges  Marshall,  Story,  Thompson,  and  Duval  were  pres- 
ent, who,  with  myself,  made  up  the  company,  with  two  waiters  in  attendance. 
Sunday  here  is  a  much  gayer  day  than  with  us.  No  conversation  is  forbid- 
den, and  nothing  which  goes  to  cause  cheerfulness,  if  not  hilarity.  The 
world  and  all  its  things  are  talked  of  as  much  as  on  any  other  day.  Judge 
Marshall  is  a  model  of  simplicity,  —  "in  wit  a  man,  simplicity  a  child."  He 
is  naturally  taciturn,  and  yet  ready  to  laugh;  to  joke  and  be  joked  with. 
Judge  Thompson  is  a  kind-hearted  man,  now  somewhat  depressed  from  the 
loss  of  his  wife.  Judge  Duval  is  eighty-two  1  years  old,  and  is  so  deaf  as  to 
be  unable  to  participate  in  conversation. 

I  have  spent  considerable  time  in  the  Senate,  to  the  floor  of  which  I  re- 
ceived an  introduction  from  Mr.  Webster;  in  other  words,  he  gave  me  a  card 
which  gives  me  access  at  all  times  to  the  floor.  The  Senate  is  now  employed 
entirely  upon  the  deposits.  This  subject  is  directly  before  them  by  means  of 
Mr.  Webster's  great  report  as  Chairman  of  the  Finance  Committee,  which 
appeared  before  I  left  Boston,  and  also  through  the  various  memorials  which 
are  pouring  in  from  every  part  of  the  country.  The  presentation  of  one  of 
these  memorials  gives  occasion  for  some  introductory  remarks,  descriptive  of 
the  sufferings  of  the  country  and  of  the  memorialists,  which  often  draws  out 
a  reply  or  counter-statement,  and  not  unfrequently  leads  on  an  animated  dis- 
cussion. I  was  present  at  one  last  Tuesday,  in  which  Mr.  Clay  took  part. 
His  eloquence  was  splendid  and  thrilling.  Without  notes  or  papers  of  any 
kind,  he  seemed  to  surrender  himself  entirely  to  the  guidance  of  his  feelings. 
He  showed  feeling ;  to  which,  of  course,  his  audience  responded.  There  was 
not  one  there  whose  blood  did  not  flow  quickly  and  pulse  throb  quickly  as  he 
listened.  He  delivered  a  violent  attack  upon  Jackson,  and  a  vehement  ex- 
hortation to  the  people  to  continue  their  memorials  and  remonstrances.  His 
language,  without  being  choice,  is  strong;  but  it  is  his  manner,  or  what  De- 
mosthenes called  action,  —  action,  action, — which  makes  him  so  powerful. 
The  opposition  have  now  a  majority  of  numbers  in  the  Senate  and  much 
the  heaviest  weight  of  talents.  Van  Buren  sits  like  a  martyr  under  the  vol- 
leys of  abuse  that  are  poured  upon  his  master  and  his  followers.  In  the  House 
there  has  been  little  to  attract  attention. 

For  the  first  two  days  I  was  in  Washington  I  boarded  at  Brown's  Hotel, 
where  I  was  dropped  by  the  stage.    Since  then  I  have  taken  private  lodgings. 
Affectionately,  your  son, 

Chas. 

1  Gabriel  Duval,  1752-1844.    He  resigned  Jan.,  1835. 


138  MEMOIR   OF    CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1834. 

TO  HIS  SISTER  JANE,  AGED  FOURTEEN. 

Washington,  March  4,  1834. 

My  dear  Jane,  —  I  wrote  a  letter  home  yesterday,  which  will  be  carried 
by  Charles  G.  Loring,  Esq.  This  letter  will  go  by  the  mail  at  nine  o'clock 
this  evening.  Mr.  Loring  left  town  this  morning  at  nine  o'clock.  You  will 
see  how  much  quicker  the  mail  goes  than  a  private  traveller.  I  have  no  doubt 
that  you  will  receive  this  at  least  a  day  earlier  than  that  first  written.  Let- 
ters are  carried  by  mail  with  all  the  speed  possible.  No  delay  is  allowed  at 
any  place.  They  are  hurried  from  one  post-office  to  another,  till  they  reach 
their  final  destination.  Letters  are  never  tired,  as  travellers  are.  They 
require  no  sleep  or  food.  Relays  of  horses  and  changes  of  drivers  are  ar- 
ranged, so  that  there  may  be  no  stoppage.  The  post-office  is  a  vast  establish- 
ment, and  is  an  invention  of  very  modern  times.  The  first  appearance  of 
any  thing  like  it  was  as  late  as  James  I.  Since  then  it  has  received  constant 
improvement  and  enlargement.  And  here  you  will  see  the  importance  of  the 
railroads  and  canals  which  are  now  building  throughout  the  whole  country. 
They  cause  a  quick  interchange  of  goods  and  products,  and  also  of  opinions. 
Steam  is  now  the  great  and  surely  powerful  agent  of  this  intercommunica- 
tion. Thirty  years  ago,  its  use  for  this  object  was  hardly  known.  All  trans- 
portation of  goods  and  letters  was  then  by  horses  or  ships.  But  now  steam, 
with  a  swiftness  that  never  tires,  and  which  literally  outstrips  the  wind,  is 
fast  becoming  the  universal  agent.  In  a  year  or  two,  one  will  be  able  to  go 
all  the  way  to  Washington  by  steam.  Indeed,  there  are  now  but  seventy 
miles  on  which  horses  are  used,  and  railways  are  constructing  over  these  miles, 
I  refer  to  the  roads  from  Boston  to  Providence,  and  from  Baltimore  to  Wash- 
ington. There  is  something  partaking  of  the  sublime  in  the  sense  that  you 
are  going  at  the  rate  of  fifteen  miles  an  hour,  drawn  by  an  insensible  agent, 
the  contrivance  of  man,  who  "  has  sought  out  many  inventions;  "  enjoying, 
if  you  are  in  a  boat,  all  the  comforts  and  luxuries  of  the  finest  hotel,  walking 
over  carpets  or  sitting  at  a  table  loaded  with  all  the  products  of  the  season ; 
or,  if  in  a  railroad  car,  enjoying  at  least  a  comfortable  and  easy  seat,  from 
which  you  may  see  the  country  over  which  you  are  flying  as  a  bird.  Steam 
will  be  a  great  revolutionist.  You,  Jane,  will  hardly  understand  this  word  in 
the  sense  in  which  I  use  it.  Yet  I  am  persuaded  that  the  idea  intended  to  be 
conveyed  by  it  is  correct.  A  journey  to  Washington  now  is  but  a  trifle;  not 
so  great  an  affair  as  a  journey  to  New  York  twenty  years  ago.  And  a  voyage 
to  Europe  is  fast  becoming  as  common  and  as  easy  as  a  journey  to  Washing- 
ton. Steamboats  are  now  erecting  at  Liverpool  (I  think)  to  run  between 
that  port  and  New  York.  Steam,  you  will  see,  is  destined  to  be  the  great 
link  of  nations. 

Pardon  the  above  dissertation.  I  have  been  betrayed  into  it  by  my  desire 
to  impress  upon  your  mind  something  that,  though  it  may  not  be  entirely 
new,  still  may  be  slightly  instructive ;  or,  at  least,  show  you  that  I  think  of 
your  instruction  at  the  distance  now  between  us.  I  hope  you  continue  to 
study  your  Latin.  You  will  not  care  to  be  an  accomplished  Latin  scholar; 
out  I  trust  you  will  have  an  ambition  to  acquire  enough  of  that  noble  Ian- 


JEt.  23.]  LETTERS  TO  SISTERS.  139 

guage  to  enable  you  to  understand  the  grammar  and  etymology  of  your  own, 
and  also  to  enjoy  the  numerous  allusions  to  and  quotations  from  the  authors 
of  old  Rome,  with  which  elegant  composition  is  so  often  interspersed.  Fur- 
ther, the  study  of  Latin  will  be  a  very  proper  discipline  to  your  mind.  The 
value  of  French,  as  a  part  of  female  education,  I  do  not  think  so  high  as  that 
of  Latin.1  Fashion  and  custom,  though,  have  settled  this  question  against 
me ;  and,  in  fact,  have  required  from  every  lady  a  knowledge  of  this  tongue. 
You,  therefore,  should  learn  French,  as  it  were,  in  self-defence,  to  show  that 
you  are  not  behind  that  standard  of  education  fixed  for  ladies.  Remember, 
further,  that  books  will  be  constant  friends,  to  relieve  you  from  lonesomeness 
and  perhaps  sorrow.   .  .  . 

These  are  incoherent  hints,  my  Jane,  which  I  wish  you  to  think  of,  and, 
if  willing,  to  adopt.  I  might  expand  them  into  a  treatise.  I  hope  Mary  — 
who  is  not  so  docile  as  you  —  will  imbibe  some  of  your  spirit  of  study,  some 
of  your  willingness  to  undertake  labor.  She  has  fine  intelligence  and  an 
inquisitiveness,  which  I  think  a  good  omen.  I  hope  she  will  not  abandon  any 
of  that;  though  I  wish  she  would  try  to  bear  her  little  disappointments,  in 
not  being  able  to  have  her  questions  answered,  with  more  nerve.  She  must 
remember  the  fable  of  Hercules  and  the  laborer.  The  laborer's  complaints 
and  Mary's  tears  are  equally  unavailing. 

There  is  little  in  Washington  to  interest  you,  or  I  would  have  written  you 
about  what  I  have  seen  and  heard  here.  There  are  many  strangers  here. 
Indeed,  Washington  is  peopled  by  them.  It  is  a  great  encampment,  where 
some  pitch  their  tents  for  the  season,  and  others  for  a  month  or  a  week.  The 
Capitol  you  have  read  a  description  of.  It  is  a  sumptuous  edifice,  worthy 
in  every  way  its  high  object,  as  the  place  of  meeting  of  the  representatives  of 
the  greatest  republic  on  earth.  The  President's  palace  is  of  equal  attraction. 
The  description  given  of  it  in  your  "Juvenile  Miscellany"  is  correct.  I 
have  been  in  many  of  its  rooms,  and  seen  General  Jackson  (the  old  tyrant), 
who  appeared  very  infirm.  He  seemed  to  have  hardly  nerve  enough  to  keep 
his  bones  together.  When  I  first  called  upon  him,  he  had  just  gone  out  with 
some  gentlemen  to  see  a  horse.  He  soon  returned,  and  went  into  conference 
with  Secretary  McLane,  who  was  with  him  when  I  was  introduced.  Judge 
Story  has  shown  me  great  kindness  and  afforded  me  many  facilities  here,  for 
which  I  am  grateful.  He  sends  his  regards  to  father.  I  wish,  Jane,  you 
would  ask  father  to  send  me,  enclosed  in  a  letter,  twenty  dollars,  if  conven- 
ient. If  not  convenient,  I  will  try  to  do  without.  It  would  be  a  comfort  to 
me  to  have  more  than  I  have.  My  expenses  here  are  considerable,  —  board 
ten  dollars  a  week,  —  and  I  wish  to  stop  a  day  or  two  in  Baltimore  and  Phila- 
delphia on  my  return.     The  money  will  be  remitted,  of  course,  at  my  risk. 

This  letter  is  written  in  the  Supreme  Court,  while  F.  S.  Key  is  speaking 
in  a  case  of  great  magnitude. 

Your  affectionate  brother, 

Chas. 

1  His  foreign  travels  changed  his  opinion  as  to  the  study  of  the  French  language. 


140  MEMOIR  OF  CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1834. 

TO  HIS  SISTER  MARY,  AGED  TWELVE  YEARS. 

Washington,  Tuesday  Evening,  March  18,  1834. 

My  dear  Mary,  —  I  am  thankful  to  father  for  his  letter,  and  to  you  for 
yours,  —  which,  by  the  way,  I  wish  had  been  written  a  little  fairer.  I  re- 
ceived them  in  due  time,  with  their  enclosures  of  fifty  dollars  from  Mr.  Rand  1 
and  of  twenty  dollars  from  father.  I  have  intended  every  day  to  write  to  you, 
but  have  been  prevented  by  some  engagement  or  other.  Time  passes  very 
quickly  here,  without  affording  much  room  for  study  or  correspondence;  and 
it  would  be  often  difficult  to  point  out  at  the  end  of  the  day  what  all  the  hours 
had  been  devoted  to.  I  rise  usually  about  seven  o'clock;  read  the  news- 
papers till  breakfast,  which  is  at  eight  and  a  half  o'clock.  After  breakfast, 
say  at  nine  o'clock,  I  take  a  walk  to  view  some  object  of  interest,  or  to  make 
a  call  on  some  gentleman  of  Congress ;  sometimes  get  to  the  Capitol  at  ten 
n'clock,  when  I  pass  the  next  hour  in  the  Congress  library,  till  eleven 
o'clock,  when  the  Supreme  Court  opens.  Here  I  pitch  my  tent  generally  till 
the  hour  of  its  adjournment,  which  usually  takes  place  about  three  and  a  half 
o'clock. 

The  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  open  at  twelve  o'clock,  and  con- 
tinue in  session  till  four  and  sometimes  five  o'clock.  If  I  hear  of  any  very 
interesting  debate  in  either,  and  there  is  nothing  of  great  interest  in  the 
court,  I  desert  the  latter;  and  after  the  court  is  over  I  wait  the  adjournment 
of  the  Senate  and  House.  This  brings  me  to  dinner  at  four  or  four  and  a 
half  o'clock.  After  dinner  there  is  but  little  daylight  left,  which  I  occupy  in 
making  calls.  The  first  part  of  the  evening  I  spend  in  conversation  with 
some  of  the  gentlemen  at  home,  or  in  visiting.  The  latter  I  most  invariably 
spend  with  Judge  Story,  —  say  from  nine  o'clock  till  ten,  that  being  the 
hour  when  he  is  free.  Such,  Mary,  is  a  simple  account  of  the  course  of  my 
time.  It  will  be  hardly  interesting  or  intelligible  to  you,  though  otherwise 
to  mother  and  father.  The  end  of  the  day  generally  finds  me  tired  and  will- 
ing to  go  to  bed,  or  at  least  indisposed  to  much  exercise  of  the  mind.  I  have 
found  time,  though,  to  read  an  able  work  of  Dr.  Lieber  on  the  Girard  Semi- 
nary, and  to  run  my  eyes  through  a  law-book  on  "  Tenures,"  and  to  prepare 
a  law-argument  of  four  pages,  to  be  laid  before  the  Judiciary  Committee  of 
the  Senate,  on  Mr.  Ward's  claim  against  the  United  States,2  besides  writing 
the  few  letters  which  I  have  written. 

This  letter  will  be  carried  by  Judge  Story,  who  leaves  to-morrow  morn- 
ing, —  the  Supreme  Court  then  adjourning.  It  was  my  intention  to  have 
started  with  him;  but  as  I  should  stop,  at  his  recommendation,  a  day  or  two 
in  Baltimore,  so  that  I  should  be  obliged  to  quit  him,  —  and  as  I  should  be 
but  an  unsocial  companion  on  the  road  to  Baltimore,  he  riding  in  the  inside 
and  I  necessarily  on  the  outside,  —  I  have  determined  to  remain  a  few  days 
longer  in  this  city  of  magnificent  distances,  to  give  an  undivided  attention  to 
the  debates  in  Congress,  which  are  growing  daily  in  interest.     Mr.  Webster 

1  Mr.  Rand  had  forwarded  the  amount  for  the  purchase  of  law  books  for  himself. 
a  Joshua  H.  Ward,  a  lawyer  practising  in  Danvers. 


JEt.  23.]  AVERSION  TO   POLITICS.  141 

has  this  day  presented,  with  an  eloquent  speech,  the  protest  from  Boston,  and 
also  introduced  his  bank-bill.1  This  last  will  excite  great  debate.  Mr.  McDuf- 
fie  2  told  me  to-day  that  he  should  endeavor  to  show,  to-morrow  or  next  day, 
that  General  Jackson  has  deliberately  aimed  to  engross  all  the  powers  of  the 
government;  and,  in  short,  to  challenge  little  short  of  a  "  kingly  crown." 

I  shall  not  start  for  home  till  the  last  of  the  week,  —  say  Friday  or  Satur- 
day or  Sunday,  —  and  shall  be  fully  a  week  on  my  way.     My  dear  Mary,  I 
am  ashamed  of  addressing  such  a  letter  as  the  above  to  you.     It  contains 
nothing,  I  feel,  adapted  to  your  age,  and  should  rather  be  addressed  to  father. 
Good  night,  by  your  affectionate  brother, 

Char 


TO  PROFESSOR  SIMON  GREENLEAF. 

Washington,  March  18,  1834. 

My  dear  Professor  Greenleaf, — I  snatch  a  moment  to  express  to 
you  my  joy  at  receiving  the  testimonial  of  your  regard  and  recollection  en- 
closed in  the  letter  to  Judge  Story.  The  Supreme  Court  adjourns  to-morrow, 
and  Judge  S.  starts  immediately  on  his  "  winding  way  "  home,  where  I  hope 
will  be  peace  and  happiness.  Since  I  have  been  in  Washington  my  debt  of 
gratitude  to  him  has  been  largely  swelled.  To  him  I  owe  an  introduction  to 
many  of  the  interesting  persons  and  scenes  of  the  place,  and  especially  what 
I  may  almost  call  a  place  in  the  court,  — persona  standi  in  judicio,  as  Lord 
Stowell  would  say.  I  shall  remain  a  few  more  days  in  Washington,  being 
anxious  to  attend  the  animating  debate  which  impends  on  Mr.  Webster's 
bank-bill.  I  probably  shall  never  come  to  Washington  again,  and  therefore 
I  shall  do  myself  best  service  by  making  the  most  of  this  visit.  I  wish  to 
become  acquainted  with  the  manner  and  appearance  of  those  gentlemen 
whose  speeches  I  am  to  read  for  some  years,  and  with  whose  fame  the  coun- 
try rings  from  side  to  side.  Notwithstanding  the  attraction  afforded  by  the 
Senate,  and  the  newspaper  fame  which  I  see  the  politicians  there  acquire,  I 
feel  no  envy  therefor,  and  no  disposition  to  enter  the  un weeded  garden  in 
which  they  are  laboring,  even  if  its  gates  were  wide  open  to  me ;  in  plain 
language,  I  see  no  political  condition  that  I  should  be  willing  to  desire,  even 
if  I  thought  it  within  my  reach, — which,  indeed,  I  do  not  think  of  tho 
humblest. 

The  country  is  in  a  sad  condition,  without  a  discernible  sign  of  relief.  I 
cannot  but  have  a  sense  or  feeling  that  things  cannot  continue  in  this  pass, 
and  that  the  very  extremity  of  our  distress  shows  the  day  of  redemption  to 
be  near.  However,  why  write  of  this?  Judge  Story  will  fully,  and  more 
justly  than  I  can,  tell  you  all  the  impressions  a  Washington  residence  makes. 

Judge  Story's  "  Conflict  of  Laws  "  8  was  cited  in  argument  in  the  Supreme 
Court  last  Saturday  for  the  first  time. 

1  Webster's  Works,  Vol.  rv.  pp.  82-102. 

2  Representative  from  South  Carolina. 

8  This  treatise  was  published  early  in  the  year. 


142  MExMOIR  OF  CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1834. 

I  have  paid  a  pilgrimage  to  Mount  Vernon  alone  on  horseback;  seen  the 
original  Declaration  of  Independence ;  the  snuff-boxes  and  royal  presents  to 
our  ambassadors ;  the  toys  at  the  Patent-Office,  &c. 

My  love  to  Mrs.  G.,  and  my  ardent  wishes  for  your  health  and  happiness. 
From  your,  as  ever,  affectionate 

Chas.  Sumner. 


TO  HIS  FATHER. 

Washington,  March  19,  1834. 

My  dear  Father,  —  I  have  seen  Governor  Lincoln  several  times  since 
he  has  been  in  town.  He  has  treated  me  very  kindly,  and  cordially  invited 
me  to  see  him.  I  presented  your  respects  to  him  upon  his  first  arrival,  and  he 
appeared  much  gratified.  He  has  spoken,  you  will  have  seen  by  the  papers, 
this  week,  on  presenting  a  memorial  from  Worcester.  The  speech,  I  think, 
reads  well,  though  it  made  little  impression  on  the  House.  In  fact,  nobody 
can  make  himself  there  heard,  nor,  by  consequence,  gain  the  attention  of  the 
House.  Members  have  too  many  facilities  for  writing  and  reading  to  give 
up  these  last  to  attend  to  a  speech  where  the  very  attention  is  labor  and 
weariness.  Governor  Lincoln  is  very  constant  in  his  seat,  and  attentive  to 
all  the  speeches.     Indeed,  he  seems  to  give  a  studied  attention. 

The  spring  has  stolen  upon  me  here  unexpectedly  in  this  southern  lati- 
tude. The  grass  looks  green  in  many  fields  within  sight,  and  the  days  feel 
sultry;  which,  with  the  dust  that  sweeps  up  and  down  Pennsylvania  Avenue, 
make  the  walk  to  the  Capitol  quite  uncomfortable. 

Calhoun  has  given  notice  to-day  that  he  will  speak  to-morrow  on  Mr. 
Webster's  bank-bill.  I  shall  probably  hear  him,  and  he  will  be  the  last  man 
I  shall  ever  hear  speak  in  Washington.  I  probably  shall  never  come  here 
again.  I  have  little  or  no  desire  ever  to  come  again  in  any  capacity.  Noth- 
ing that  I  have  seen  of  politics  has  made  me  look  upon  them  with  any  feeling 
other  than  loathing.  The  more  I  see  of  them  the  more  I  love  law,  which,  I 
feel,  will  give  me  an  honorable  livelihood.  Mr.  Peters,  who  has  treated  me 
with  great  friendship,  told  me,  when  I  was  remarking  to  him  as  above,  that 
before  1840  I  should  come  on  to  Washington  (if  I  were  willing)  to  argue  some 
causes  in  the  Supreme  Court.  This  anticipation,  nattering  of  course,  was  dic- 
tated undoubtedly  by  Judge  Story's  friendly  recommendations  of  me.  How- 
ever, I  do  not  presume  to  indulge  any  such  anticipations.  When  indulged  by 
others,  I  let  them  pass  for  what  they  are  worth.  To-day  is  Thursday.  Satur- 
day morning  I  shall  probably  leave  Washington  for  Baltimore,  where  I  shall 
be,  perhaps,  Sunday  and  Monday;  on  Tuesday  pass  from  Baltimore  to  Phila- 
delphia, over  the  track  of  the  unfortunate  steamer  "  William  Penn,"  one  of 
the  largest  and  handsomest  boats  I  ever  was  in,  where  I  shall  stay  a  couple 
of  days;  pass  to  New  York,  there  to  stop  a  day;  then  through  the  Sound  ma 
Providence  home,  where  I  hope  to  find  you  all  well  and  happy,  as  I  have  been 
and  now  am.  Affectionately,  your  son 

Chas. 


JEx.  23.]  HEARING  JOHN  C.  CALHOUN.  143 

TO  PROFESSOR  SIMON  GREENLEAF. 

Washington,  March  21, 1834. 
My  dear  Mr.  Greenleaf,  —  Let  me  congratulate  you  upon  the  pres- 
ence of  your  fellow-laborer  in  instruction.     I  hope  Judge  S.  is  at  home,  well 
and  in  good  spirits. 

I  leave  Washington  to-morrow  morning  for  Baltimore.  I  feel  happy  in 
the  prospect  of  soon  seeing  home  and  my  friends  in  Cambridge,  who  stand 
next  in  my  affections;  and,  indeed,  I  have  sometimes  feared  more  than 
divided  them.  That  I  may  find  you  and  yours  in  health  and  happiness  is 
my  ardent  wish. 

It  will  be  vacation,  I  presume,  when  I  arrive.  I  trust  that  you  will  make 
it  vacation  in  reality. 

I  have  nothing  interesting  to  write  from  this  big  city.  There  is  the  same 
strong  cry  of  complaint  received  every  day  from  every  part  of  the  country ; 
and,  in  return,  there  is  the  same  stubborn  indifference  manifested  by  the 
administration. 

Excuse  this  rude  scrawl,  and  believe  me 

Yours,  as  aforesaid, 

Chas.  Sumner. 


TO  HIS  FATHER. 

Washington,  March  21,  1834. 

My  dear  Father,  —  I  start  for  Baltimore  to-morrow  morning  at  eight 
and  a  half  o'clock,  after  one  month's  residence  in  Washington.  I  have  seen 
many  of  the  first  men  in  the  country,  and  heard  most  of  the  speakers.  The 
excitement  of  the  times  has  afforded  me  a  good  opportunity  to  hear  our 
leading  minds. 

I  feel  a  little  melancholy  at  leaving,  as  I  have  become  almost  a  denizen 
here;  have  habituated  myself  to  the  hours  and  style  of  living  here,  so  that  I 
shall  feel  the  change.  And  yet  there  is  nothing  that  I  have  met,  either  in  the 
Senate  or  the  court,  or  in  the  well-furnished  tables  of  the  richest  hotels,  that 
I  would  take  in  exchange  for  the  calm  enjoyments  and  employments  to  which 
I  have  been  accustomed.  I  feel  in  an  unnatural  state,  and  I  shall  have  joy 
in  once  more  resuming  my  constant  labors. 

Mr.  Calhoun  has  spoken  to-day  on  Mr.  Webster's  bank-bill.1  He  is  no 
orator,  very  rugged  in  his  language,  unstudied  in  style,  marching  directly  to 
the  main  points  of  his  subject  without  stopping  for  parley  or  introduction. 
His  speech  made  a  very  strong  impression  upon  a  veiy  numerous  audience. 

I  bade  good-by  to  Governor  Lincoln  to-day,  who  wished  me  to  present  his 
regards  to  you.  He  has  obtained  private  lodgings  now,  and  feels  a  little  more 
contented.  He  was  quite  homesick  a  week  ago.  He  is  much  discouraged  by 
the  size  of  the  Representatives'  Hall;  he  can  neither  hear  nor  be  heard. 

Perhaps  you  will  not  hear  from  me  again  till  I  come  in  person.     I  wrote 

1  Calhoun's  Works,  Vol.  II.  pp.  344-376. 


144  MEMOIR  OF  CHARLES  SUMNER.  [1834. 

letters  while  on  my  way  from  home,  but  those  were  Parthian  shafts.  I  shall 
follow  so  close  upon  my  letters,  that  it  will  be  superfluous  to  write  till  I  come 
home.  Good-by. 

Chas. 
You  will  see  that  this  is  written  in  a  hurricane  of  haste. 


TO  DR.  FRANCIS  LIEBER,  PHILADELPHIA. 

Boston,  July  17, 1834. 

My  dear  Doctor, — Yours  containing  the  notice  of  "Mittermaier's 
Journal  "  was  duly  received.  I  thank  you  for  it;  it  was  what  was  wanted. 
Your  friendly  address  to  me  I  appreciate,  and  under  your  advice  shall  hasten 
to  learn  German  as  speedily  as  possible.  Judge  Story  will  attest  to  you  that 
my  time  is  not  unemployed ;  if  it  had  been  in  the  least  otherwise  for  the  last 
three  months,  I  should  already  have  made  some  acquests  of  that  difficult  lan- 
guage. I  have  just,  by  the  help  of  a  dictionary,  made  out  the  meanings  of 
half  a  dozen  title-pages  in  German,  to  enter  in  the  list  of  new  publications  on 
iurisprudence  at  the  end  of  our  journal.     Set  that  down  as  a  beginning. 

You  may  see  at  Micklin  and  Johnson's,  probably,  the  "  Law  Magazine," 
No.  23,  which  contains  Mittermaier's  article  on  German  criminal  law.  I  see 
he  has  just  published  another  medical  work  on  "  Proofs,"  &c. 

I  was  with  Judge  Story  when  he  received  your  letter  giving  an  account  of 
Mittermaier's  article  on  his  "  Commentaries  on  the  Constitution."  How  long 
is  that  article,  and  what  is  its  purport  and  point?  Ought  it  not  to  be  pre- 
sented to  our  public,  translated? l  I  burn  to  know  German,  that  I  may  at  once 
read  all  these  things  myself,  and  not  pester  with  my  ignorance  my  indulgent 
friends. 

Can  I  help  you  about  towns  ?  2  You  will  wish  first  to  state  in  brief  what 
towns  are  in  England,  —  to  get,  as  it  were,  a  unit  of  measure ;  and  because 
ours  are  fashioned  more  or  less  upon  those  models.  You  will  then  be  led  to 
state  that  towns  are  public  corporations :  and  here  explain  a  nice  distinction 
of  the  common  law  between  public  and  private  corporations,  —  a  distinction 
unknown  to  the  civil  law,  and,  I  presume,  to  German  or  any  continental 
jurisprudence.  The  early  history  of  New  England  should  be  searched,  in 
order,  as  it  were,  to  go  behind  the  statute-book;  for,  I  take  it,  towns  were 
established  long  before  there  was  much  systematic  legislation.  Indeed,  I 
have  always  regarded  the  formation  of  New  England  into  towns  as  one  of  the 
peculiarities  of  the  first  settlers,  to  be  accounted  for  by  a  study  of  their  cir- 
cumstances and  character.     Can  I  assist  you?     I  have  several  engagements 

1  "American  Jurist,"  July,  1835,  Vol.  XIV.  p.  247. 

2  Mittermaier  had  requested  Dr.  Lieber  to  contribute  to  a  German  magazine  an  article 
on  "Towns."  This  was  prior  to  the  publication  of  Tocqueville's  review  of  the  "Ameri- 
can System  of  Townships,"  and  particularly  of  the  towns  of  New  England,  in  his  "De- 
mocracy in  America,"  Vol.  I.  ch.  5. 


jEt.  23.]  LETTER  TO  A   SCHOOLGIRL.  145 

of  my  pen  in  different  quarters,  but  there  is  no  one  I  should  be  so  happy  to 
serve  as  you. 

With  sincere  attachment,  yours, 

Chas.  Sumner. 


TO  MISS  PETERS,  PHILADELPHIA. 

Boston,  Aug.  13,  1834. 
...  I  am  glad  that  you  are  so  fond  of  what  most  young  ladies  call 
dry  reading,  —  Hume,  Sallust,  &c.  Novels,  indeed,  are  delightful.  They 
are  the  sources  of  exhilaration  and  pleasure;  and  especially  those  of  Walter 
Scott  and  Miss  Edge  worth  often  contain  much  instruction,  either  by  fur- 
nishing sketches  of  historical  characters,  or  of  an  age,  or  of  a  remarkable 
event,  which  are  thus  imprinted  on  the  attentive  mind  with  the  vividness  of 
a  picture,  or  by  illustrating  and  enforcing  some  beautiful  moral  truth.  Miss 
Edgeworth's  "  Helen,"  which  I  have  just  read,  is  worth  a  score  of  dull  ser- 
mons on  this  account.  With  what  point  and  skill  has  she  shown  the  miser- 
able consequences  of  the  slightest  departure  from  truth!  But  notwithstand- 
ing all  the  fine  qualities  which  some  novels  possess,  they  must  not  be 
received  as  the  only  aliment  of  the  mind.  .  .  . 

I  am  glad  you  have  taken  the  trouble  to  abridge  Hume  as  you  read,  though 
I  fear  you  have  done  it  out  of  kind  deference  to  my  advice  rather  than  from 
love  of  it.  The  making  this  abridgment  will  have  a  tendency  to  fasten  your 
attention  upon  the  history  more  than  it  would  have  been  otherwise,  while 
you  will  also  accustom  yourself  to  select  the  leading  events,  —  a  habit  of  great 
importance.  Hume's  style  is  easy  and  fascinating.  It  has  not  the  stately 
and  oratorical  character  which  belongs  to  Robertson  and  Gibbon,  but  is  much 
more  intelligible  than  that  of  either.  .  .  .  When  you  have  grown  a  good  deal 
older,  you  will  take  a  pleasure  in  reading  some  criticisms  and  strictures 
upon  Hume,  and  also  the  volumes  of  Sir  James  Mackintosh  on  English 
history,  which,  though  written  in  an  involved  and  often  crabbed  style, 
abound  in  the  finest  thoughts  and  in  the  most  correct  views  of  the  English 
Constitution. 

Sallust  is  one  of  the  most  valuable  authors  spared  to  us  from  antiquity. 
He  is  remarkable  for  point,  strong  remark,  and  sarcasm ;  the  last  is  especially 
directed  against  vice,  though  he  himself  was  one  of  the  most  flagitious  men 
that  ever  lived,  —  if  I  remember  right,  the  plunderer  of  the  province  of  which 
he  was  pro-consul,  and  a  sensualist  who  set  no  bounds  to  his  indulgence.  His 
works,  so  caustic  in  the  cause  of  virtue,  and  his  character  so  defiled  by  vice, 
taken  together  present  an  anomaly  which  is  a  standing  wonder.  .  .  . 
Remember  me  affectionately  to  your  father,  mother,  sisters,  and 
Believe  me  as  ever  yours, 

Chas.  Sumner. 

vol.  i.  10 


146  MEMOIR  OF  CHARLES  SUxMNER.  [1834-37. 


CHAPTER   VIII. 

EARLY   PROFESSIONAL   LIFE.  —  SEPTEMBER,    1834,    TO    DECEMBER,    1837.— 

AGE,   23-26. 

A  YOUNG  attorney's  "  first  case  "  is  always  with  him  a  well- 
**-*-  remembered  event,  and  Sumner's  happened  to  have  some 
points  of  public  interest.1  Suffolk  County  had  then  a  Common- 
wealth's attorney,  from  whose  strong  gripe  it  was  hard  to  wrest 
any  prisoner  ;  but  Sumner  was  fortunate  in  this  attempt  at  a  res- 
cue. A  few  weeks  after  his  admission  to  the  bar  he  engaged,  as 
a  volunteer,  in  the  defence  of  one  Waylen,  indicted  in  the  Muni- 
cipal Court  under  a  statute  for  sending  a  challenge  to  one  Ales- 
sandro  Gherardi,  —  a  case  which  probably  came  to  him  through 
his  father's  connection  with  the  jail.  He  was  associated  with 
George  S.  Hillard,  who  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  April  of  the 
previous  year.  The  grounds  of  defence  at  the  trial  were,  that 
the  paper  sent  by  the  defendant  was  an  invitation  to  a  confer- 
ence, with  a  view  to  a  satisfactory  adjustment,  rather  than  a 
challenge ;  and  that  the  defendant's  surname  ended  with  an  w, 
instead  of  an  r,  as  written  in  the  indictment.  The  trial  occu- 
pied part  of  the  day,  Oct.  13,  1834,  and  resulted  in  an  acquittal. 
A  newspaper  of  the  next  day  said :  "  The  defence  was  conducted 
with  much  ability  by  Messrs.  G.  S.  Hillard  and  Charles  Sumner. 
This  is  the  first  essay  of  the  latter  gentleman,  who  is  said  to  be 
more  deeply  read  in  the  law  than  any  other  individual  of  similar 
age."  2  Sumner,  as  his  preserved  minutes  show,  argued  at  length, 
citing  numerous  authorities  on  the  question  of  misnomer  and  the 
construction  of  the  statute.  He  reviewed  with  his  characteristic 
fulness  the  celebrated  duels  in  English  and  French  history ; 
urged  that  they  were  peculiar  to  men  of   fashion,  and   rarely 

1  His  first  professional  charge,  being  for  a  writ,  was  made  Sept.  13,  1834. 

2  Daily  Atlas. 


JEt.  23-26.]  NUMBER  FOUR  COURT   STREET.  147 

resorted  to  by  persons  of  humble  life,  like  the  accused ;  and  con- 
tended, therefore,  that  his  client's  language  should  be  construed 
as  intending  only  an  amicable  meeting. 

Early  in  November  Hillard  and  Sumner  became  associated  as 
partners,  and  rented  two  adjoining  rooms  on  the  second  floor  of 
the  Brooks  Building,  then  recently  erected,  being  Number  4 
Court  Street,  at  the  corner  of  Washington  Street,  —  the  site  of 
the  present  Sears  Building.  Sumner  occupied  the  room  next  to 
the  hall,  and  Hillard  the  rear  one.  He  kept  one  or  the  other 
for  about  twenty  years,  so  long  as  he  remained  at  the  bar. 

Number  4  Court  Street  gathered  at  this  period  several  law- 
yers, since  well  known,  and  some  who  were  destined  to  a 
permanent  fame.  On  the  same  floor  with  Sumner  and  Hillard 
were  Theophilus  Parsons,  Rufus  Choate,  Theophilus  and  Peleg 
W.  Chandler ;  and  later  John  A.  Andrew,  afterwards  Governor 
of  the  Commonwealth.  On  the  third  floor  were  Horace  Mann, 
Edward  G.  Loring,  and  Luther  S.  Cushing.  When  Hillard  left 
the  building,  in  1856,  having  previously  removed  to  another  room, 
he  wrote  in  verse  a  graceful  "  Farewell  to  Number  Four,"  which 
called  forth  some  happy  rejoinders.1 

Sumner  and  Cushing2  rented  together  a  single  lodging-room 
on  the  third  floor  of  the  Brooks  Building.  Sumner  took  his 
meals  at  a  restaurant  —  Kenfield's,  on  Wilson's  Lane.  Some  two 
years  later  he  changed  his  lodgings  to  the  Albion,  and  dined 
there  or  at  the  Tremont. 

The  culture  and  friendliness  of  Hillard  and  Sumner  attracted 
many  callers,  —  not  only  the  other  tenants  of  Number  4,  but, 
besides  them,  Judge  Story,  Greenleaf,  Cleveland,  Felton,  Park 
Benjamin,  and  George  Bancroft.  Greenleaf  deposited  his  "  writ- 
ing-desk, table,  and  chair  "  in  the  office,  calling  it  "  our  office." 
Here,  when  he  came  to  the  city,  he  usually  called  upon  his  two 
friends,  and  met  the  clients  whom  he  served  while  he  was  pro- 
fessor. Whether  many  or  few  suitors  came  to  the  young  attor- 
neys, they  at  least  had  rare  enjoyment  in  their  fellowships.3 

In  Feb.,  1835,  Sumner  defended  successfully,  in  the  Municipal 
Court,  a  party  indicted  for  a  libel.  Failing  on  his  law-points, — 
an  alleged  defect  in  the  indictment  and  want  of  jurisdiction  in 

1  Law  Reporter,  March,  1856,  Vol.  XVIII.  p.  653. 

2  Cushing  was  the  well-known  author  of  works  on  Parliamentary  Law. 

8  Hillard,  writing  to  Sumner  from  New  York,  July  4,  1836,  recalls,  in  contrast  with  the 
law-offices  of  that  city,  "our  cool  and  pleasant  office,  and  the  quiet  and  cultivated  friends 
who  drop  in." 


148  MEMOIR   OF   CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1834-37. 

the  court,  —  which  he  strongly  urged,  he  made  a  vigorous 
opening  to  the  jury  on  the  truth  of  the  article  complained  of 
and  the  motives  of  its  author,  and  discussed  at  length  the  law 
of  libel. 

The  following  December  he  was  counsel,  as  junior,  with  The- 
ophilus  Parsons,1  for  the  plaintiff,  in  the  case  of  Pelby  v.  Barry, 
tried  in  the  Supreme  Judicial  Court  before  Mr.  Justice  Morton,2 
—  a  novel  action  exciting  public  interest,  in  which  the  plaintiff 
sought,  by  applying  the  rule  governing  the  relation  of  master  aud 
servant,  to  recover  damages  against  the  defendant  for  enticing 
Miss  Kerr  and  other  actors  from  his  service.3  He  made  quite  a 
full  opening  argument,  covering,  as  was  usual  with  him,  a  wide 
range,  which  included  a  review  of  the  drama,  and  particularly 
melodrama,  this  being  the  specialty  of  the  actors  enticed  by  the 
defendant ;  bespeaking  the  favor  of  the  jury  for  his  client,  as  the 
weaker  party,  and  entreating  them  not  to  indulge  in  any  preju- 
dice against  him  because  of  his  profession.  The  jury  disagreed, 
and  the  entry,  "  neither  party,"  was  made  on  the  docket. 

Sumner's  first  appearance  before  the  Supreme  Judicial  Court 
at  law-terms  was  in  1837.  He  was  junior  counsel  in  the  ar- 
gument of  two  causes,  one  heard  in  March  relating  to  a  mort- 
gage of  personal  property,4  and  the  other,  in  June,  being  an 
action  of  tort  for  wrongfully  putting  a  party's  name  on  certain 
medicines.5  He  was  called  into  the  former  case  by  Richard 
Fletcher,  and  into  the  latter  by  Theophilus  Parsons,  —  two 
friends  who  watched  with  interest  his  professional  career.  He 
prepared  a  brief  for  Mr.  Fletcher  in  a  case  involving  the  ques- 
tion, whether  an  agreement  to  procure  a  certain  location  for  a 
railway-station  is  void  as  against  public  policy,  and  suggested  the 
point  on  which  the  case  was  decided.6 

Among  his  papers  is  an  elaborate  opinion,  written  in  1835, 
which  reviews  at  length  the  authorities  on  a  question  arising 
under  the  law  of  watercourses,  —  whether  the  proprietors  of  mills 

1  Mr.  Parsons,  an  early  friend  of  Sumner,  was  afterwards  for  many  years  Dane  Pro- 
fessor in  the  Harvard  Law  School,  and  is  the  well-known  author  of  the  "Law  of  Con- 
tracts "  and  other  law  treatises. 

2  Evening  Mercantile  Journal,  Dec.  24,  25,  1835. 

8  It  was  held  in  England,  in  1853  (Coleridge,  J.,  dissenting),  that  such  an  action  was 
maintainable.  Lumley  v.  Gye,  2  Ellis  and  Blackburn's  Reports,  p.  216  ;  Lumley  v.  Wagner, 
1  De  Gex,  Macnaghten  &  Gordon's  Reports,  p.  604. 

*  Shurtleff  v.  Willard,  19  Pickering's  Reports,  p.  202. 

6  Thomson  v.  Winchester,  19  Pickering's  Reports,  p.  214. 

6  Fuller  v.  Dame,  18  Pickering's  Reports,  p.  472.  Sumner's  name  does  not  appear  in  the 
report  of  the  case. 


Mr.  23-L'o.j  LAW  BUSINESS.  149 

at  Lowell  on  the  Merrimac  River,  which  is  fed  by  the  waters  of 
Lake  Winnipiseogee,  have  a  right  of  action  against  parties  who 
divert  for  mill-uses  the  waters  of  Merrymeeting  Pond,  which 
flow  into  the  Lake. 

In  June,  1835,  he  was  appointed  by  Judge  Story  a  commis- 
sioner of  the  Circuit  Court  of  the  United  States,1  and  a  year 
later  was  admitted  to  practice  in  that  court. 

Sumner,  at  this  period,  succeeded  as  well  as  the  average  of 
young  lawyers;  but  he  did  not,  like  his  classmate  Hopkinson, 
step  into  a  lucrative  practice,  nor  obtain  the  business  which,  with 
his  laborious  studies  and  many  friends,  he  had  expected.  His 
docket  was  a  slender  one  even  for  those  days.  He  was  too  much 
absorbed  in  amateur  studies  to  become  a  shrewd  and  ready  prac- 
titioner; and  his  mind,  while  so  employed,  was  the  less  in- 
clined to  the  petty  details  of  an  office.  His  engagements  at  the 
Law  School,  yet  to  be  mentioned,  for  the  first  three  months 
of  each  year  —  the  busiest  season  for  a  lawyer  —  seriously  invaded 
the  regularity  of  office  hours,  keeping  him  at  Cambridge  every 
alternate  day  at  some  seasons.  Clients  are  quick  to  detect  such 
departures  from  the  professional  routine,  and  prefer  some  pains- 
taking attorney  who  is  always  to  be  found  at  his  desk.  Sum- 
ner, not  meeting  at  once  with  the  success  which  he  had  hoped 
for,  confessed  his  disappointment  to  his  intimate  friends.  But 
while  with  continuous  devotion  to  the  profession  he  would 
have  doubtless  attained  a  very  respectable  rank  at  the  bar,  it 
may  be  questioned  whether  he  had  the  qualities  w^hich  draw  to 
a  lawyer  "  litigious  terms,  fat  contentions,  and  flowing  fees." 
According  to  tradition,  he  weighted  his  arguments  with  learning 
where  only  a  skilful  handling  of  testimony  would  have  been  most 
effective ;  and  was  not  gifted  with  the  quickness  of  perception 
which  is  as  essential  in  the  court-room  as  in  the  field.  His  tastes 
and  qualities  of  mind  fitted  him  rather  for  a  position  as  judge  or 
teacher,  where  his  chief  duty  would  be  the  exposition  of  the  prin- 
ciples of  the  law.  But  he  expressed  no  discontent  with  his  pro- 
fession, and  certainly  had  no  thought  of  leaving  it.  His  enthu- 
siasm in  the  study  of  jurisprudence  as  a  science  was  unabated. 

In  Jan.,  1835,  he  began  to  give  instruction  in  the  Law 
School  in  the  place  of  Judge  Story,  who  was  absent  at  Washing- 
ton on  official  duty.     Judge  Story  wrote  to  him,  Feb.  9,  — 

1  Office  resigned  by  letter,  Dec.  9,  1853,  but  vacated  by  law  on  his  acceptance  of  the 
office  of  Senator,  in  1851. 


150  MEMOIR  OF  CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1834-37. 

"  I  rejoice  that  you  have  gone  through  the  ordeal  of  your  inauguration, 
and  fairly  through,  and  are  now  acclimated  in  the  Law  School.  I  never  had 
any  doubt  upon  the  subject.  Your  success  (for  so  I  learn  from  Mr.  Green- 
leaf)  has  been  complete  and  every  way  gratifying.  I  hope  that  this  is  but 
the  beginning,  and  that  one  day  you  may  fill  the  chair  which  he  or  I  occupy, 
if  he  or  I,  like  autocrats,  can  hope  to  appoint  our  successors."  l 

He  rendered  the  same  service  in  the  winters  of  1836-37, 
and  in  the  last-named  year  had  the  chief  responsibility  for  the 
school  during  the  absence  of  both  Judge  Story  and  Professor 
Greenleaf,  —  the  latter  being  engaged  at  Washington  as  counsel 
in  the  case  of  The  Charles-River  Bridge  v.  The  Warren  Bridge. 

Like  the  two  professors,  Sumner  taught  by  oral  examinations 
and  also  by  formal  lectures.  He  used  as  text-books  Kent's  "  Com- 
mentaries," —  the  first  and  second  volumes,  —  and  Starkie's 
"  Evidence."  The  volumes  of  Kent  which  he  used,  particularly 
the  first,  are  very  much  underscored,  and  marked  with  additional 
references.  The  first  volume  treats  of  the  law  of  nations,  the  juris- 
diction of  the  national  courts,  and  the  sources  of  municipal  law. 
The  thorough  study  of  these  topics,  which  his  duties  as  instructor 
required,  gave  him  thus  early  a  facility  in  dealing  with  them, 
which  was  to  be  of  great  use  to  him  in  public  life.  He  had  a 
difficult  place  to  fill  in  the  school,  —  one  always  suggesting  a 
comparison  with  Story  and  Greenleaf.  Few  recall  his  method 
as  a  teacher ;  and  while  he  did  not  leave  a  strong  impression  of 
any  Jkind  on  the  students,  he  appears  to  have  realized  a  fair 
measure  of  success  for  so  young  a  lawyer. 

Early  in  1835,2  Judge  Story  appointed  him  as  the  reporter 
of  his  opinions  in  the  Circuit  Court.  His  first  volume  (filled 
with  cases  decided  in  the  time  of  the  preceding  reporter,  Mason) 
was  published  in  March,  1836,  the  second  in  1837,  and  the  third 
in  1841. 

In  1835,  he  assisted  Professor  Greenleaf  in  preparing  the 
General  Digest  of  his  "  Reports  of  the  Decisions  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  Maine,"  which  is  a  part  of  Vol.  IX.  of  the  series. 
In  1835-36,  he  prepared  the  indexes  to  the  two  volumes  of 
Story's  "  Equity  Jurisprudence."  Some  literary  work  planned 
in  1835  was  not  executed,  —  a  condensed  series  of  English  Par- 
liamentary Cases,  to  be  prepared  by  him  in  connection  with 

1  Story's  Life  and  Letters,  Vol.  II.  p.  189.  Sheriff  Sumner  entered  in  his  "  Farmer's 
Almanac,"  Jan.  6,  1836,  "Charles,  twenty-five  years  old,  lectured  on  Common  Carriers." 

2  Story's  Life  and  Letters,  Vol.  II.  p.  194. 


Mr.  28-26.|  EDITING  THE  "JURIST."  151 

Professor  Greenleaf,  and  a  similar  series  of  the  English  Chan- 
cery Reports,  ancient  and  modern,  in  connection  with  Richard 
Peters ; 1  and  a  treatise  on  the  "  Law  of  Sales."  In  1836,  he 
was  urged  to  edit  Chitty's  treatise  on  Criminal  Law,  but  de- 
clined ;  recommending  in  his  stead  Mr.  Perkins,  of  Salem.2 

During  the  whole  of  this  period  of  three  years  following  his 
admission  to  the  bar,  he  continued  to  write  for  the  "  Jurist,'' 
having,  as  assistant  of  Mr.  Phillips,  the  editor,  the  main  charge 
until  April,  1836 ;  when  Sumner,  Hillard,  and  Cushing  were 
announced  as  the  editors.  Besides  contributing  articles  on  legal 
topics,  the  editorship  involved  much  drudgery  in  digesting  the 
recent  reports  and  in  preparing  miscellaneous  matter.  One 
number,  —  that  for  Oct.,  1835,  —  when  just  ready  to  be  issued, 
was  destroyed  by  a  fire  which  took  place  at  the  corner  of 
Devonshire  and  Water  Streets,  and  Sumner  was  obliged  to  re- 
write his  own  contributions  to  it.  The  magazine  kept  up  its 
high  character,  but  was  not  remunerative ;  and  the  small  num- 
ber of  its  contributors  imposed  a  heavy  burden  on  its  editors. 
Much  of  the  material  prepared  by  the  different  editors  cannot 
now  be  traced  to  the  one  who  supplied  it ;  but  Sumner's 
longer  articles  are  marked  with  his  initials,  and  his  correspond- 
ence with  friends  reveals  his  authorship  of  some  briefer  notices. 
The  following  are  identified  as  written  by  him :  — 

"  Are  Challenges  to  Jurors  in  Massachusetts  determinable  by 
Triors?"3  —  an  article  which  treats  not  only  the  particular 
point,  but  the  broader  question,  to  what  extent  the  American 
colonists  adopted  the  common  law  of  England;  review  of 
Howe's  "Practice;"4  "Right  to  Sue  the  United  States,"5  — 
suggested  probably  by  the  private  claim  which,  as  a  friendly 
act,  he  promoted  on  his  visit  to  Washington  in  1834 ;  "  Sketch 
of  the  Law  School  at  Cambridge,"6  —  taking  for  its  text  Pro- 
fessor Greenleaf's  inaugural  discourse,  and  giving  a  history  of 
the  school,  with  a  tribute  to  Nathan  Dane,  a  living  benefactor ; 7 
"  The  Advocates'  Library  in  Edinburgh,"  8  —  which  dwells  upon 
the  necessity  of  law  libraries  to  meet  the  vast  increase  in  law 

1  American  Jurist,  April,  1835,  Vol.  XIII.  p.  490. 

2  He  wrote  a  notice  of  the  edition  for  the  "Jurist,"  Jan.,  1837,  Vol.  XVI.  pp.  371,  372. 
8  Oct.,  1834,  Vol.  XII.  pp.  330-340.  *  Oct.,  1834,  Vol.  XII.  pp.  554-567. 

5  Jan.,  1835,  Vol.  XIII.  pp.  34-39.  6  ja„M  i835>  Vol.  XIII.  pp.  107-130. 

7  Mr.  Dane,  author  of  "An  Abridgment  and  Digest  of  American  Law,"  and  framer  of 
the  celebrated  ordinance  of  1787,  for  the  government  of  the  North-west  Territory,  died 
shortly  after,  Feb.  15,  1835,  at  the  age  of  eighty-three. 

«  April,  1835,  Vol.  XIII.  pp.  382-389. 


152  MEMOIR  OF    CHARLES   SUMNER  [1834-37 

literature,  and  the  value  of  good  catalogues,  "  the  soul  of  libra- 
ries ;  "  "  The  Juridical  Writings  of  Sir  James  Mackintosh,"  :  — 
commending  Sir  James  as  author  and  magistrate,  with  liberal 
extracts  from  his  writings ;  "  The  Library  of  the  Inner  Tem- 
ple," 2  —  criticising  the  library  for  its  indifference  to  American 
law-books,  in  contrast  in  this  respect  with  the  Advocates'  Library 
in  Edinburgh,  and  testifying  to  -its  richness  in  ancient  manu- 
scripts ;  kt  Barbour's  '  Equity  Digest ; '  "  3  "  Phillips  on  the  Law 
of  Patents;"4  " David  Hoffman's  4 Anthony  Grumbler;'"6  and 
"  The  Judgments  of  Sir  Edward  Sugden."  6 

As  will  be  seen  by  reference  to  these  articles,  Sumner's  tastes 
led  him  to  write  upon  authors,  books,  and  libraries,  rather  than 
upon  the  law  itself.  His  learning  and  comprehension  of  the 
principles  of  the  law  were  appreciated  by  his  friends,  who  fre- 
quently applied  to  him  for  his  views  as  well  as  for  cases  in 
point.  Among  these  were  Mr.  Daveis,  Mr.  Appleton,  of  Bangor, 
now  Chief-Justice  of  Maine,  Mr.  Parsons,  and  his  classmate 
Browne. 

Sumner's  time  was  much  occupied,  in  1885-36,  in  revising 
and  completing  Dunlap's  "Admiralty  Practice."  The  author, 
Andrew  Dunlap,  had  mainly  written  the  text  of  his  book ;  when, 
in  the  early  part  of  1835,  he  was  obliged  by  failing  health 
to  resign  his  office  of  Attorney  of  the  United  States  for  the  Dis- 
trict of  Massachusetts,  and  to  commit  the  revision  of  the  text, 
the  correction  of  proof,  and  the  preparation  of  precedents  to  an- 
other. Among  the  young  lawyers  of  Boston  he  selected  Sumner, 
with  whom  he  had  relations  of  friendship,  as  the  fittest  person 
for  the  service.  His  whole  heart  was  in  the  book,  which  he 
longed  to  finish.  He  wrote  or  dictated  many  notes  to  Sumner, 
from  January  till  the  time  of  his  death  in  July,  the  last,  with 
the  preface,  only  four  days  before  that  event.  After  his  death, 
Sumner  made  the  indexes  and  most  of  the  appendix,  and  pre- 
pared the  "  Practical  Forms."  He  obtained  these  forms  —  a  val- 
uable feature  of  the  book  —  from  manuscript  pleadings  which 
had  been  tested  in  this  country,  and  from  English  forms  which 
he  abbreviated  and  simplified  for  American  practice.  Others 
he  drew  himself  without  such  aid,  to  meet  cases  found  in  the 
reports.     These  forms,  carefully  and  skilfully  prepared  as  they 

i  Jul)-,  1835,  Vol.  XIV.  pp.  100-134.  2  Oct.,  1835,  Vol.  XIV.  pp.  310-316. 

8  July,  1837,  Vol.  XVII.  pp.  366-372.  4  Oct ,  1837,  Vol.  XVIII.  pp.  101-119. 

5  Oct.,  1837,  Vol.  XVIII.  pp.  119,  120.  6  jan.,  1838,  Vol.  XVIII.  pp.  328-334. 


Mt.  23-26.]  PREPARES   ADMIRALTY  FORMS.  153 

were,  did  much  to  remedy  the  looseness,  inaccuracy,  and  want 
of  uniformity  which  prevailed  in  those  early  days  of  admiralty 
practice ;  and  even  now,  after  an  interval  of  forty  years,  they 
remain,  with  only  slight  changes,  the  standard  forms.  His  prep- 
aration of  the  work  consumed  so  much  time,  that  he  was  obliged 
to  defer  its  publication  till  a  year  after  the  author's  death.  His 
preface  to  the  volume  gives  a  brief  sketch  of  the  author's  life 
and  character. 

Mr.  Dunlap  dictated,  July  23,  four  days  before  his  death,  a 
preface,  in  which  he  said :  — 

"  These  remarks  are  all  which  the  author  would  have  offered  to  the  pro- 
fession respecting  himself  and  his  work,  were  it  not  that  he  is  under  obliga- 
tions to  another,  which  both  inclination  and  justice  require  him  publicly  to 
acknowledge.  About  the  time  when  the  body  of  the  work  was  completed, 
and  the  author  was  preparing  to  give  it  a  last  revision  as  it  went  through 
the  press,  he  was  attacked  by  a  most  severe  illness,  from  which  he  has  not 
recovered,  except  in  a  very  slight  degree.  He  was,  therefore,  under  the 
necessity  of  committing  all  the  care  of  the  publication  of  this  book  to 
Charles  Sumner,  Esq.,  the  reporter  of  the  decisions  of  the  Circuit  Court  of 
the  United  States  for  the  First  Circuit,  who  has  discharged  the  kind  service 
with  the  zeal  of  a  sincere  friend  and  the  accuracy  of  an  excellent  lawyer. ' ' 

In  1836,  Sumner  was  much  interested  in  the  proposed  codifi- 
cation of  the  common  law,  —  a  project  then  much  agitated  in 
Massachusetts.  He  was  consulted  with  reference  to  taking  a 
place  upon  the  preliminary  commission,  —  consisting  of  Judge 
Story,  Theron  Metcalf,  Simon  Greenleaf,  Charles  E.  Forbes,  and 
Luther  S.  Cushing,  —  which  was  appointed  under  a  legislative 
resolve  to  consider  its  expediency,  but  was  dissuaded  from  accept- 
ing it  by  some  of  his  friends ;  they  thinking  his  great  intimacy 
with  Story,  who  would  be  the  soul  of  the  commission,  an  objec- 
tion to  his  serving  upon  it.  This  movement  for  law-reform  did 
not  advance  beyond  the  report  of  the  commission. 

In  1837,  Sumner  contributed  to  the  "  North  American  Re- 
view "  an  article  on  Francis  J.  Grund's  "  Americans,"  1  and  some 
brief  notices  of  books. 

In  the  winter  of  1834-35,  he  was  announced  for  a  lecture  in 

i  Jan.,  1838,  Vol.  XLVI.  pp.  106-126.  In  sending  the  article  to  the  editor,  Dr.  Palfrey, 
he  wrote,  Nov.  25,  1837,  ''The  whole  has  been  written  in  the  loopholes  which  I  could  find 
while  my  mind  was  anxious  with  business  and  thrilling  with  anticipations  of  Europe."  He 
wrote  a  notice  of  Blunt's  "Shipmaster's  Assistant,"  Oct.,  1837,  Vol.  XLV.  pp.  502-504; 
David  Hoffman's  "Anthony  Grumbler,"  pp.  482-504,  and  Lieber's  "  Hermeneutics,"  Jan. 
1838,  Vol.  XLVI  pp.  300-301.  In  the  "Daily  Advertiser,"  Aug.  24,  1835,  he  published  a 
brief  notice  of  a  recent  publication  by  Dr.  Lieber. 


154  MEMOIR   OF  CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1834-37. 

a  course  delivered  before  the  Boston  Lyceum,  at  Boylston 
Hall;  in  which  Mr.  Choate  gave  the  first,  followed  by  the 
brothers  Everett,  George  S.  Hi] lard,  and  Amasa  Walker.  Sum- 
ner read,  Jan.  26,  1835,  a  lecture  on  "  The  Law  of  Master  and 
Servant,  including  Mariners,"  before  the  Mercantile  Association, 
at  Amory  Hall,  corner  of  Washington  and  West  Streets,  and  re- 
peated the  same  lecture  before  the  Charitable  Mechanics'  Asso- 
ciation, at  Masonic  Hall.  He  read  another  lecture,  Feb.  2,  on 
"  The  Law  of  Bailments  "  before  the  Mercantile  Association,  and 
repeated  it  a  few  weeks  later  before  a  class  in  the  Law  School. 
The  two  lectures  are  a  simple  statement  of  the  rules  of  law  per- 
tinent to  each  topic,  with  familiar  illustrations  from  business  life. 
He  received  an  invitation,  in  Jan.,  1836,  which  he  does  not  appear 
to  have  accepted,  to  deliver  a  lecture  at  Lowell,  before  the 
Moral  Lyceum.  He  read,  Feb.  28,  1837,  a  lecture  on  "  The 
Constitution  of  the  United  States  "  in  the  Smith  Schoolhouse, 
Belknap  Street,  before  the  Adelphic  Union  Society,  —  a  literary 
association  of  colored  people.  Hillard  delivered  the  introductory 
lecture,  and  was  followed  by  Wendell  Phillips,  Rev.  John  Pier- 
pont,  and  Dr.  Gamaliel  Bradford. 

Sumner  was  at  this  period  an  overworked  man,  doing,  besides 
the  business  of  his  law-office,  altogether  too  much  literary  drudg- 
ery. George  Gibbs  wrote  to  him  from  Paris,  Sept.  16,  1835, 
"  You  do  not  do  justice  to  yourself  in  some  of  your  undertakings, 
from  the  speed  with  which  they  are  prepared."  Mr.  Appleton 
wrote  from  Bangor,  Dec.  6,  of  that  year,  "  There  is  one  word  of 
advice  to  you,  my  friend ;  that  is,  not  to  labor  too  hard."  Sum- 
ner himself  afterwards  thought  that  he  had  given  too  much  of 
his  time  to  writing  for  magazines.  But  his  health  did  not  fail 
him.  He  was  rarely  ill ;  and  notwithstanding  his  excessive 
application  he  was  able  to  write  to  a  friend,  Aug.  25,  1835, 
when  suffering  from  a  headache,  that  it  was  his  first  experience 
of  the  kind. 

He  gave  at  this  time  no  promise  of  future  distinction  as  an 
orator.  His  few  arguments  in  court  were  mere  statements  of  the 
law,  with  illustrations  from  history  and  literature.  His  style 
as  yet  was  only  that  of  an  essayist.  The  lectures  before  lyce- 
ums  were  didactic  only,  such  as  any  professor  might  read  from 
his  chair.  Young  men  no  older  than  himself  had  already  won 
favor  on  the  platform.  Hillard  had  spoken  at  Faneuil  Hall,  and 
delivered,  in  1835,  the  customary  oration  before  the  city  author- 


jEt.  23-26.]  A  JOURNEY  IN   VACATION.  155 

ities  on  the  Fourth  of  July,  and  an  address  at  a  commencement 
of  Dartmouth  College.  Wendell  Phillips  was  already  a  favorite 
public  speaker ;  and,  in  Dec,  1837,  made  his  famous  reply 
to  James  T.  Austin,  in  Faneuil  Hall,  on  Lovejoy's  murder  at 
Alton.  Unlike  most  young  lawyers,  Sumner  took  no  part  in 
politics.  His  letters  written  in  1836  make  no  reference  to  the 
political  canvass  of  that  year,  which  ended  in  Van  Buren's  elec- 
tion. Young  men  of  similar  education  —  as  Robert  C.  Win- 
throp  and  Hillard  —  were  elected  to  the  Legislature,  then  much 
larger  than  now,  soon  after  they  entered  on  manly  life ; x  but  no 
one  seems  to  have  thought  of  him  in  such  a  connection,  and  cer- 
tainly he  had  no  ambition  for  the  place.2 

In  1835,  he  took  a  share  in  a  speculation,  —  his  only  venture 
of  the  kind  through  life.  He  was  duped  by  the  assurances  of 
brokers  into  investing  in  the  American  Land  Company,  of  New 
York,  the  officers  of  which  pretended  to  have  made  fortunate 
investments  in  the  West.  He  hoped  to  realize  a  handsome 
sum ;  but  he  lost  all  he  had  advanced,  —  an  amount  which 
he  could  ill  afford  to  spare  from  his  meagre  revenues,  —  and  was 
left  in  debt.  Smarting  under  the  deception  to  which  he  was  a 
victim,  he  wrote  to  the  friend  whose  investigations  had  opened 
his  eyes,  "  I  have  learned  a  valuable  lesson  ;  money  and  business 
dissolve  all  the  ties  and  bonds  of  friendship." 

In  August  and  September,  1836,  he  took  a  vacation,  the  only 
one  which  he  is  known  to  have  taken  during  -his  first  three  years 
of  practice.  He  visited  Niagara  Falls,  going  by  the  way  of 
New  York  City  and  the  Hudson  River,  and  returning  by  the  way 
of  Canada,  the  White  Mountains,  and  Portland.  At  New  York 
he  called  on  Chancellor  Kent,3  who  treated  him  with  much  cour- 
tesy ;  met  William  Johnson,  the  reporter,  whom  he  found  a gentle- 
manly, accomplished,  and  talented,  truly  a  delightful  character ;  " 
and  had  pleasant  interviews  with  his  friend  George  Gibbs,  and 
his  classmate  Tower.  Impressed  with  the  contrast  between  the 
street  life  of  New  York  and  that  of  Boston,  more  striking  then 

i  Winthrop  was  elected  to  the  Legislature  in  Nov.,  1834.  Hillard  and  John  0.  Sargent, 
a  classmate  of  Sumner,  were  elected  to  the  same  body  in  Nov.,  1835;  and  his  classmate, 
Browne,  in  Nov.,  1837. 

2  Samuel  Lawrence,  who  knew  him  intimately  at  this  time,  writes:  "He  was  devoted 
to  law  and  literature,  and  I  do  not  believe  that  political  life  had  once  been  in  his  thoughts." 

3  In  the  ear!}r  part  of  July  the  Chancellor  had  made  a  visit  to  Boston,  during  which  Sum- 
ner was  attentive  to  him,  taking  him  to  Trinity  Church  on  Sunday,  to  a  party  at  Judge 
Simuel  Putnam's,  and  to  points  of  interest  in  the  city,  and  to  Cambridge. 


156  MEMOIR  OF   CHA11LES   SUMNER.  f  1834-37. 

than  now,  he  said  to  Tower,  as  they  sat  together  in  a  parlor  of 
the  Astor  House,  looking  out  on  Broadway,  and  listening  to  its 
tumultuous  life,  "  Well,  this  is  a  noisy  city.  I  don't  know,  how- 
ever, but  I  could  come  to  like  it  after  a  while,  when  I  had  become 
used  to  the  great  bustle,  and  attuned,  as  it  were,  to  the  place." 
On  the  Hudson  River  he  became  acquainted  with  Mrs.  Clinton, 
the  widow  of  De  Witt  Clinton  ;•  and  at  Albany  he  was  intro- 
duced by  her  to  the  aged  Chief-Justice  Ambrose  Spencer,  then 
living  in  retirement.  At  Saratoga  he  met  two  well-known 
jurists,  —  Chancellor  Walworth  and  Judge  Cowen.1  In  Canada 
he  travelled  with  a  young  Scotchman  whom  he  had  met  at  Balls- 
ton,  —  Thomas  Brown,  of  Lanfire  House,  Kilmarnock,  a  nephew 
of  Lord  Jeffrey,  a  friend  of  Talfourd,  and  a  member  of  the 
Garrick  Club  of  London.  Brown  took  life  easily,  unencumbered 
with  professional  or  family  cares,  and  amused  himself  in  trav- 
elling and  frequenting  clubs.  His  knowledge  of  English  soci- 
ety, particularly  of  the  personal  life  of  English  men  of  letters, 
made  him  an  interesting  companion  for  Sumner.  They  corre- 
sponded from  this  time,  and  afterwards  met  in  London  and  Scot- 
land.'2 At  Quebec  Sumner  dined  with  Chief-Justice  Sewall,  now 
well  advanced  in  years,  and  at  Portland  enjoyed  an  opportunity 
of  meeting  his  much-valued  friend,  Charles  S.  Daveis.  This 
journey  is  in  scenery  and  association,  perhaps,  the  most  attractive 
which  the  continent  affords,  —  the  Hudson  River,  the  falls  at 
Trenton,  Niagara,  and  Montmorency,  Lake  Champlain,  which 
Sumner  had  traversed  in  school-boy  days,  the  St.  Lawrence, 
Montreal,  and  Quebec,  both  cities  of  ancient  and  foreign  aspect, 
and  the  White  Mountains  of  New  Hampshire.  He  reached 
Boston,  after  five  weeks'  absence,  "full  of  spirits,  health,  and 
satisfaction  with  his  journey." 

Sumner  took  at  this  time  a  thoughtful  interest  in  the  slavery 
question.  This  appears  particularly  in  his  correspondence  with 
Dr.  Lieber.3  To  Miss  Martineau,  who  was  in  Boston  in  1835,  he 
showed  his  strong  feelings  on  the  subject  by  his  denunciation  of 
pro-slavery  mobs;  and  he  was  one  of  the  class,  as  she  after- 
wards said,  to  whom  she  referred,  in  her  "  Society  in  America," 4 
as  expressing  the  determination  to  set  themselves  against  such 

1  Of  Walworth  and  Cowen  he  wrote :  "  Neither  interested  me.  They  are  mere  book-men. 
Judge  Oakley,  of  New  York,  whom  I  met,  is  abler  than  both." 

2  Brown  died  in  Jan.,  1873. 
8  Post,  p.  173. 

*  Vol.  I.  p.  130.    Harriet  Martineau's  Autobiography  (Memorials),  Vol.  II.  p.  295. 


Mr.  C3-26]  RELATIONS  WITH  DR.   CHANNING.  157 

violence.  He  began  the  same  year  to  read  the  "  Liberator ;  " 
and  it  was  the  first  paper  for  which  he  subscribed.1 

Sumner's  personal  relations  with  Rev.  Dr.  William  E.  Chan- 
ning  were  formed  as  early  as  this  period,  probably  beginning 
with  an  introduction  by  George  Gibbs,  a  nephew  of  Dr.  Chan- 
ning.  The  doctor,  who  always  took  a  great  interest  in  young 
men,  was  attracted  to  Sumner  by  the  commendation  of  Judge 
Story,  his  college  classmate  (the  class  of  1798)  ;  and  he  had 
occasion  to  be  grateful  for  Sumner's  kindness  and  good  sense  in 
relieving  a  young  kinsman  from  a  personal  difficulty.  Sumner's 
thoughts  and  aspirations  were  doubtless  much  affected  by  his 
association  with  Dr.  Channing  at  this  time.2  To  this  reformer, 
to  his  character,  his  great  arguments  for  freedom,3  and  his 
moral  inspiration,  the  world  will  ever  pay  deserved  homage  ; 
and  Sumner's  tribute  to  his  memory  glows  with  the  grateful 
enthusiasm  of  one  who  in  youth  had  sat  at  his  feet.4 

The  correspondence  between  Sumner  and  his  college  class- 
mates had  now  almost  entirely  ceased.  With  new  associations 
and  divergent  tastes  they  had  drifted  apart.  There  was  no  want 
of  kindly  recollection,  nor,  when  they  met,  of  hearty  sympathy ; 
but  the  student  days,  which  had  been  the  common  topics  of  their 
correspondence,  had  receded  into  the  past.  His  correspondents 
were  now  chiefly  law  reporters  and  writers  for  law  maga- 
zines, of  whom  most  were  contributors  to  the  "  Jurist."  Among 
them   were  Richard  Peters,   Charles   S.   Daveis,5  John  Apple- 

1  He  wrote  April  9, 1850 :  "I  have  read  the  '  Liberator '  more  or  less  since  1835.  It  was 
the  first  paper  I  ever  subscribed  for."  Wendell  Phillips,  in  a  speech  of  Jan.  27,  1853,  said : 
"My  old  and  valued  friend,  Mr.  Sumner,  often  boasts  that  he  was  a  reader  of  the  '  Liber- 
ator' before  I  was."     Speeches,  Lectures,  and  Letters  of  Wendell  Phillips,  p.  135. 

>l  In  Sept.  1842,  Sumner  wrote  to  his  brother  George  then  in  Europe:  "I  know  the  lat- 
ter [Dr.  Channing]  intimately,  and  my  admiration  of  him  grows  constantly.  When  I  was 
younger  than  I  am  now,  I  was  presumptuous  enough  to  question  his  power.  I  did  not 
find  in  him  the  forms  of  logical  discussion,  and  the  close,  continuous  chain  of  reasoning,  — 
and  I  complained.  I  am  glad  that  I  am  wise  enough  to  see  him  in  a  different  light."  In 
October,  1842,  he  wrote  in  relation  to  Dr.  Channing's  death:  "He  has  been  my  friend,  and 
I  may  almost  say  my  idol,  for  nearly  ten  years.  For  this  period  I  have  enjoyed  his  confi- 
dence in  no  common  way." 

3  Dr.  Channing's  book  on  "  Slavery  "  was  published  in  1835. 

*  Oration  before  the  Phi  Beta  Kappa  Society,  Aug.  27,  1846,  — "The  Philanthropist." 
Works.  Vol.  I.  pp.  284-298. 

5  Mr.  Daveis,  of  Portland.  Maine,  who  was  a  friend  of  Sumner's  father,  was  learned  in 
equity  and  admiralty  law.  On  his  return  from  the  Hague,  where  he  went  in  1830  to  assist 
in  preparing  the  case  of  the  United  States  against  Great  Britain,  involving  the  north-east 
boundary  dispute,  then  pending  before  an  arbitrator,  he  formed  in  England  relations  of 
friendship  with  some  eminent  persons,  among  them  Earl  Fitzwilliam.  He  died  March  29, 
1805,  aged  seventy-six.  A  sketch  of  his  life  may  be  found  in  the  Memorials  of  the  Massa- 
chusetts Society  of  the  Cincinnati,  of  which  he  was  a  member.  He  was  very  fond  of  Sum- 
ner, and  took  a  great  interest  in  his  career. 


158  MEMOIR  OF   CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1834-37. 

ton,1  Dr.  I.  Ray,2  Francis  J.  Troubat,3  John  B.  Wallace,4  David 
Hoffman,6  and  Jonathan  C.  Perkins.6  He  corresponded  with 
Judge  Story  when  the  judge  was  at  Washington,  and,  when 
himself  absent  from  home,  with  Hillard.  His  letters  were 
always  rapidly  written,  were  not  easily  read  by  those  who  were 
not  familiar  with  his  handwriting,  and  contained  many  verbal 
abbreviations.  They  expressed  in  an  unstudied  way  his  thought 
at  the  instant ;  and  he  gave  to  them  none  of  the  careful  reflec- 
tion and  emendation  which  he  bestowed  on  whatever  he  printed. 
The  beginning  of  the  acquaintance  of  Dr.  Francis  Lieber 7 
and  Sumner  at  Washington  has  already  been  referred  to.  From 
1834  until  Dr.  Lieber's  death  in  1872,  excepting  the  period  of 
1851-61,  when  their  correspondence  was  interrupted,  they  wrote 
often  to  each  other,  the  letters  of  Dr.  Lieber  being  much  more 
frequent  and  longer  than  Sumner's.8  At  this  early  period 
he  addressed  Sumner  in  familiar  and  endearing  terms,  and 
appears  to  have  cherished  a  real  affection  for  him.  He  availed 
himself  often  of  Sumner's  friendly  offices  in  negotiating  with 
publishers  in  Boston,  and  bringing  his  works  before  the  public. 
He  had  then  partly  ready  for  the  press  his  translation  of  Feuer- 
bach's  "  Casper  Hauser,"  a  German  Grammar,  a  '*  Dictionary  of 
Antiquities,"  a  series  of  school-books,  u  Political  Hermeneutics," 9 

1  The  present  Chief-Justice  of  Maine.  In  a  letter  of  May  18,  1837,  Sumner  wrote:  "Mr 
Appleton  is  a  writer  of  great  nerve,  boldness,  and  experience,  with  a  Benthamic  point  and 
force." 

2  Dr.  Ray  then  lived  at  Eastport,  Maine,  and  afterwards  became  superintendent  of  the 
Butler  Asylum  for  the  Insane,  at  Providence,  R.  I.  In  1837,  he  submitted  to  Sumner  for 
criticism  the  manuscript  of  his  "Medical  Jurisprudence  of  Insanity." 

3  Author  of  a  treatise  on  the  "Law  of  Limited  Partnerships,"  and  editor  of  law  reports. 
He  died  in  1868. 

4  Reporter  of  Cases  in  the  Court  of  the  United  States  for  the  Third  Circuit.  He  died  in 
Philadelphia,  Jan.  7,  1837. 

5  Author  of  "A  Course  of  Legal  Study  "  and  "Legal  Outlines."  He  resided  in  Balti- 
more, and  later  in  Philadelphia,  and  died  in  1854. 

6  One  of  Sumner's  friends,  younger  in  the  profession  than  himself,  then  practising  law 
at  Salem,  afterwards  a  Judge  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas,  and  the  editor  of  "  Daniell's 
Chancery  Pleading  and  Practice  "  and  other  law  books.     He  died  in  1877,  aged  sixty-eight. 

7  Dr.  Lieber  was  born  in  Berlin,  in  1800.  Having  been  a  student,  soldier,  and  exile,  he 
came  to  this  country  in  1827,  and  lived  successively  in  Boston,  New  York,  and  Philadel- 
phia. In  1835,  he  became  professor  of  History  and  Political  Economy  in  the  South  Caro- 
lina College,  at  Columbia,  where  he  remained  more  than  twenty  years.  In  1857,  he  was  ap- 
pointed to  a  similar  professorship  in  Columbia  College,  New  York,  and  held  the  position  till 
his  death,  Oct.  2,  1872.  He  is  well  known  by  his  Encyclopaedia ;  but  his  fame  is  to  rest 
permanently  on  his  "Manual  of  Political  Ethics,"  and  his  "Civil  Liberty  and  Self- 
Government." 

8  Sumner  preserved  nearly  a  thousand  of  Lieber's  letters  to  him. 

9  Sumner  published  the  "Political  Hermeneutics"  in  the  "American  Jurist,"  Oct. 
1837,  Vol.  XVTII.  pp.  37-101.    Jan.  1838,  Vol.  XVIII.  pp.  281-294. 


JEt.  23-26.]  INTIMACY  WITH  DR.  LIEBER.  150 

and  "  Political  Ethics."  All  these  were  topics  of  correspondence 
between  them.  Sumner  furnished  historical  illustrations  for  the 
"  Political  Ethics,"  was  the  first  friend  to  whose  critical  eye  the 
manuscript  was  submitted,  and  was  by  the  direction  of  the  author, 
who  sailed  for  the  West  Indies  in  the  summer  of  1836,  to  take 
charge  of  it  in  case  of  the  latter's  death.  The  careful  revision 
of  the  work,  before  it  was  given  to  the  public,  was  however  per- 
formed by  Hillard.  Lieber  wrote  to  Sumner,  Aug.,  1835,  "I 
want  you  to  give  me  all  that  you  can  from  the  well  stocked 
stores  of  your  head.  Your  letters  are  a  real  treat  to  me."  And 
again,  Feb.  15,  1837,  referring  to  Sumner's  proposed  visit  to 
Europe  :  "  That  you  are  to  go  will  be  a  great  impediment  to  me, 
for  though  you  are  but  young  I  know  how  well  esteemed  you 
are;  and  being  young  you  are  active  for  my  interest.  When 
you  are  gone,  I  shall  have  no  friendly  agent  in  Boston."  He 
wrote,  Oct.  23,  "I  don't  know  how  I  shall  thank  you  for  all 
your  kindness  and  assistance ; "  and  again,  Nov.  30,  "  I  thank 
you  for  the  care  you  have  taken  of  my  literary  reputation." 
Judge  Story  wrote  to  Sumner,  Dec.  2,  "  What  poor  Lieber  will 
do  without  you,  I  know  not.  He  will  die,  I  fear,  for  want  of  a 
rapid,  voluminous,  and  never-ending  correspondence." 
Dr.  Lieber  wrote,  Sept.  23,  1837 :  — 

"  Let  me  thank  you,  my  dear  friend,  most  heartily  for  your  kind  addition 
of  stock  to  my  work  in  your  last.  The  interest  I  see  you  take  in  my  book 
cheers  me  much.  Contribute  more  and  more.  It  will  all  be  thankfully 
received;  only  I  am  afraid  I  shall  be  embarrassed  how  to  use  it.  I  can- 
not all  the  time  say,  '  contributed  by  a  friend,'  and  yet  I  do  not  want  to 
plume  myself  with  your  feathers.  .  .  .  Write  me  more  of  what  you  happen 
to  think;  and  my  dear  fellow,  if  it  were  not  asking  too  much,  I  would  beg 
you  to  grant  me  a  pigeon-hole  in  your  mind  while  abroad:  say,  if  you  would, 
a  memorandum-book  with  this  title,  'All  sorts  of  stuff  for  Lieber.'  It 
would  be  a  real  service  of  friendship." 

Dr.  Lieber's  brain  was  always  teeming  with  projects  of  author- 
ship ;  and,  in  order  to  carry  them  through,  he  set  his  best  friends 
to  tasks  which  it  was  not  easy  to  perform,  and  sometimes  put 
their  good  nature  to  a  strain.  But  with  his  robust  understand- 
ing, his  vast  knowledge,  and  his  varied  experience,  he  gave  them 
as  much  as  he  received.  His  conversation,  always  fresh,  original, 
and  sparkling  with  reminiscences,  charmed  the  young  of  both 
sexes,  and  stimulated  thought  and  study.  Sumner  found  in  him 
an  excellent  guide  in  the  departments  of  political  ethics  and 


160  MEMOIR  OF   CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1831-37 

philosophy;  and,  during  our  civil  war,  often  sought  his  views 
on  questions  of  international  and  public  law.  Lieber's  answers, 
given  with  great  promptness,  were  always  conspicuous  for  their 
good  sense  and  knowledge  of  precedents. 

Sumner's  correspondence  and  association  with  foreigners,  al- 
ways much  enjoyed  by  him,  began  at  this  period.  The  editing  of 
the  "  Jurist "  brought  him  into  relations  with  foreign  writers 
upon  jurisprudence.  Among  these  were  Foelix,1  and  Wolowski,2 
both  of  Paris ;  Dr.  Julius  3  of  Berlin  ;  Professor  Mittermaier  4  of 
Heidelberg;  and  Arthur  J.  Johnes  of  Lincoln's  Inn,  London. 
Mr.  Johnes  had  recently  written  a  small  volume  on  the  "  Reform 
of  the  Court  of  Chancery,"  proposing  the  amalgamation  of  law 
and  equity,  which  attracted  Sumner's  attention.5  Dr.  Julius  was 
a  student  of  penitentiary  science,  and  made  Sumner's  acquaintance 
during  his  visit  to  this  country  in  1835.6  Foelix,  the  editor  of 
the  Revue  Etrangere,  was  afterwards  to  render  Sumner  substantial 
kindness  during  the  latter's  visit  to  Paris.  Louis  Wolowski 7  was 
the  editor  of  the  Revue  de  Legislation  et  de  Jurisprudence ;  of 
Polish  birth,  and  an  exile,  he  had  become  a  French  citizen. 
Political  economy  rather  than  jurisprudence  was  to  give  him 
his  fame.  In  time  of  birth  he  differed  from  Sumner  less  than 
a  year.  Each  began  his  career  as  the  editor  of  a  law  magazine, 
and  each  ended  it  as  a  senator.  Sumner  met  in  a  very  friendly 
way  Harriet  Martineau  at  the  time  of  her  visit  to  Boston  in 
1835-36,  and  in  a  letter  to  Judge  Story  she  spoke  of  him  and 
Hillard  as  "  glorious  fellows."  With  his  Scotch  friend,  Thomas 
Brown,  he  had  much  correspondence,  both  while  the  latter 
remained   in   America   and   after   his    return    home.     He   was 


1  American  Jurist,  April,  1834,  Vol.  XI.  p.  495  ;  Oct.  1835,  Vol.  XIV.  p.  493. 
*  American  Jurist,  April,  1835,  Vol.  XIII.  p.  483;  Oct.  1835,  Vol.  XIV.  p.  489. 

3  American  Jurist,  Oct.  1837,  Vol.  XVIII.  pp.  254-258. 

4  Karl  Joseph  Anton  Mittermaier.    1787-1867. 

5  American  Jurist,  April,  1835,  Vol.  XIII.,  pp.  459-465 ;  a  notice  probably  written  b/ 
Sumner. 

6  1783-1862.  Dr.  Nikolaus  H.  Julius.  He  lived  at  Hamburg  the  later  years  of  his 
life.  He  gave  his  time  largely  to  the  inspection  of  prisons,  and  to  writing  upon  prison  sys- 
tems.    He  was  the  German  translator  of  "  Ticknor's  History  of  Spanish  Literature." 

7  1810-1876.  Wolowski  was  chosen  a  member  of  the  Chamber  of  Deputies  in  1848-49, 
and  1871,  and  afterwards  a  senator  for  life.  In  1839,  he  became  a  law  professor  in  the  Con- 
servatory of  the  Arts  and  Trades  ;  and  in  1855  was  admitted  to  the  Academy  of  Moral  and 
Political  Sciences.  He  founded  the  first  Credit  fonder  of  Paris,  which  became  the  Credit 
fonder  of  France.  His  funeral  on  Aug.  18, 1876,  though  simple  in  rites,  was  imposing  in 
the  attendance  of  distinguished  men.  The  religious  services  were  held  at  the  Eglise  de  la 
Trinite*,  and  a  discourse  was  pronounced  at  Pere  La  Chaise  on  behalf  of  the  Academy. 
Journal  des  Debuts,  Aug.  19,  1876.     "London  Times,"  Aug.  17,  1876. 


JEt.  23-26.]  THE  "FIVE   OF  CLUBS."  161 

fond  of  reading  letters  from  Europe,  and  was  grateful  for 
access  to  those  written  by  Mr.  Rand  and  Mr.  Ticknor  while 
they  were  abroad,  and  to  those  received  by  Mr.  Daveis  from 
his  English  friends.  He  corresponded  with  George  Gibbs,  who 
in  1835  passed  some  time  in  Paris,  where  through  Sumner's 
introduction  he  was  well  received  by  Foelix. 

In  the  early  part  of  1837,  a  strong  friendship  was  formed  be- ' 
\\  tween  Cornelius  C.  Felton,  Henry  W.  Longfellow,  George  S. 
Hillard,  Henry  R.  Cleveland,  and  Sumner ;  they  called  themselves 
the  "  Five  of  Clubs."  They  were  near  to  each  other  in  age  ; 
Longfellow  being  thirty,  Felton  twenty-nine,  Hillard  and  Cleve- 
land twenty-eight,  and  Sumner  twenty-six.  Of  the  five,  Hillard 
only  was  married.  All  achieved  an  honorable  place  in  literature. 
Cleveland 1  was  a  teacher  by  profession,  and  a  scholar  of  a  refined 
and  sensitive  nature ;  and,  after  suffering  several  years  from  ill- 
health,  he  died  at  the  age  of  thirty-four.  The  others  lived  to  fulfil 
the  rich  promise  of  youth.  Felton  and  Sumner  became  friends 
when  the  former  was  Greek  professor  at  Harvard  College,2  and 
the  latter  a  student  in  the  Law  School.  The  friendship  of  Hillard 
and  Sumner  began  with  their  law-partnership.  A  single  inter- 
im view,  in  1835,  between  Longfellow  and  Sumner,  in  Fel ton's  room, 
was  their  only  meeting  before  the  former,  having  passed  more 
than  a  year  in  Europe  after  his  election  as  Mr.  Ticknor's  succes- 
sor, assumed  in  Dec,  1836,  the  duties  of  his  professorship  at  Cam- 
bridge. The  "  Five  "  came  together  almost  weekly,  generally 
on  Saturday  afternoons.  They  met  simply  as  friends  with  com- 
mon tastes  and  the  fullest  sympathy  with  each  other,  talking  of 
society,  the  week's  experiences,  new  books,  their  individual  stud- 
ies, plans,  and  hopes,  and  of  Europe,  —  which  Longfellow  and 
Cleveland  had  seen,  and  which  the  others  longed  to  see.  They 
loved  good  cheer,  but  observed  moderation  in  their  festivities. 
A  table  simply  spread  became  a  symposium  when  Felton,  with 
his  joyous  nature,  took  his  seat  among  his  friends ;  and  the  other 
four  were  not  less  genial  and  hearty.  There  was  hardly  a  field 
of  literature  which  one  or  the  other  had  not  traversed,  and  they 
took  a  constant  interest  in  each  other's  studies.  Each  sought 
the  criticism  of  the  rest  upon  his  own  book,   essay,   or  poem 

1  Cleveland  was  born  Oct.  3, 1808,  and  died  June  12, 1843.    A  memoir,  with  selections 
from  his  writings,  was  prepared  by  Mr.  Hillard. 

2  Felton  was  born  Nov.  6,  1807,  and  died  Feb.  26,  1862.     He  was,  at  the  time  of  his 
death,  President  of  Harvard  University. 

vol.   I.  11 


162  MEMOIR  OF  CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1834-37. 

before  it  was  given  to  the  public.  Their  mutual  confidence 
seemed  to  know  no  limitation  of  distrust  or  fear  of  possible  alien- 
ation ;  and  they  revealed,  as  friends  do  not  often  reveal,  their 
inner  life  to  each  other.  Rarely  in  history  has  there  been  a 
fellowship  so  beautiful  as  that  of  these  gifted  young  men. 

The  riot  in  Broad  Street,  June  11,  1837,  brought  on  by  a 
collision  between  a  fire-engine  company  and  an  Irish  funeral 
procession,  was  the  beginning  of  a  friendship  between  Sumner 
and  Dr.  Samuel  G.  Howe.1  Five  hundred  combatants  were  en- 
gaged, and  a  body  of  bystanders  obstructed  the  streets.  The 
Irish  were  worsted,  and  pursued  to  their  homes.  Well-known 
citizens — Abbott  Lawrence,  Robert  C.  Winthrop,  Josiah  Quincy, 
Jr.,  and  others  —  supported  Mayor  Eliot,  who  was  on  the  ground, 
in  his  efforts  to  restore  order.  Sumner  went  with  them  to 
the  scene,  and,  then  as  always  unconscious  of  personal  fear, 
pushed  into  the  thickest  of  the  fight,  where,  his  stature  soon 
making  him  a  target,  he  was  struck  down  by  a  heavy  missile. 
His  intrepidity  was  so  conspicuous  as  to  draw  the  attention  of 
Dr.  Howe,  who  was  there  on  a  like  errand.  Their  friendly 
acquaintance  began  then,  but  their  intimacy  belongs  to  the 
period  following  Sumner's  return  from  Europe. 

Richard  Fletcher,2  who  was  then  a  member  of  Congress  from 
Boston,  and  afterwards  a  Judge  of  the  Supreme  Judicial  Court 
of  Massachusetts,  became  much  attached  to  Sumner  at  this  time  ; 
employed  him  to  prepare  briefs,  and  opened  to  him  other  profes- 
sional opportunities.  Sumner  was  always  grateful  for  the  kind- 
ness which  Mr.  Fletcher,  some  years  his  senior,  rendered  to  him  at 
this  period,  and  their  warm  regard  was  uninterrupted  through  life. 

Horace  Mann  and  Sumner  were  brought  together  as  lawyers 
and  tenants  of  the  same  building.  Mann  was  already  interested 
in  temperance,  education,  and  the  care  of  the  insane,  —  topics 
then  much  agitated ;  and,  like  Demetz  in  France,  he  was  soon  to 
enter  on  a  service  for  mankind  greater  than  any  which  is  possible 
at  the  bar.  There  are  brief  records  of  his  interest  in  Sumner  at 
this  time.  In  Feb.,  1837,  he  urged  the  latter  to  deliver  a  tem- 
perance address.3     He  wrote,  Nov.  6,  in  his  journal,  "  Dined  with 

1  Dr.  Howe  was  born  Nov.  10,  1801,  and  died  Jan.  9,  1876.  From  1824  to  1830  he  was 
in  Greece,  serving  that  country  in  the  army  and  in  other  capacities.  From  1832  until  his 
death  he  was  an  instructor  of  the  blind,  and  engaged  in  philanthropic  movements. 

2  1788-1869. 

«  Life  of  Horace  Mann,  p.  54.  Sumner  in  a  letter  of  June  29,  1836,  commends  Mr. 
Mann  to  Charles  S.  Daveis  as  "the  President  of  the  Senate  of  Massachusetts,  and  a  dis- 
tinguished member  of  our  profession." 


JEt.  23-26.]  SOCIAL  RELATIONS.  168 

C.  Sumner  to-day,  who  is  going  to  Europe  soon.  When  he  goes, 
there  will  be  one  more  good  fellow  on  that  side,  and  one  less  on 
this." 1  They  were  afterwards  to  be  fellow  combatants  in  the 
causes  of  education  and  freedom.  Among  Sumner's  papers  was 
found  a  sketch,  written  during  the  last  autumn  of  his  life,  of  his 
friend's  career.  This  tribute  was  intended  for  a  municipal  cele- 
bration in  Wrentham,  the  birthplace  of  Horace  Mann,  but  some 
circumstances  prevented  Sumner's  attendance  on  the  occasion.2 

Sumner's  social  range  in  Boston  was,  at  this  period,  quite 
limited ;  but  the  few  families  he  visited  were  those  on  whose 
fidelity  and  sympathy  he  could  always  count.  He  was  on  a 
familiar  footing  in  the  houses  of  Hillard,  Samuel  Lawrence, 
Robert  B.  Forbes,  and  Park  Benjamin,  then  living  with  his  sis- 
ters, who  afterwards  became  Mrs.  J.  Lothrop  Motley  and  Mrs. 
Stackpole.  Hillard's  kind  words  had  opened  the  doors  of  some  of 
these  houses  to  Sumner.  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes,  then  a  young 
physician,  visited  most  if  not  all  of  these  families.  There  was 
no  want  of  good  talking  at  a  dinner  or  supper  where  Hillard, 
Benjamin,  Holmes,  and  Sumner  were  gathered.  Sumner  was 
accustomed  to  call  at  William  Sullivan's  and  Judge  William 
Prescott's,  both  friends  of  his  father;  at  Jeremiah  Mason's, 
Samuel  Austin's,  and  Mrs.  James  Perkins's. 

He  frequented  the  rooms  of  Mr.  Alvord,  his  former  teacher 
at  Cambridge,  who  passed  the  winter  of  1837  in  Boston  when 
serving  as  a  member  of  the  Legislature  from  Greenfield.3  The 
latter  used  to  say  of  him  and  Wendell  Phillips,  whom  he  called 
his  "  boys,"  that  the  State  and  the  country  would  one  day  be 
proud  of  them. 

Those  who  saw  much  of  Sumner  at  this  time  recall  him  as 
appearing  to  be  a  very  hard  student,  thoroughly  informed  on  all 
topics  of  conversation,  wanting  in  humor,  never  speaking  un- 
kindly to  any  one  or  of  any  one ;  and  winning  all  hearts  by  his 
transparent  nature,  his  absolute  good  faith,  and  his  knightly 
sense  of  honor  and  fidelity  in  friendship. 


1  Life  of  Horace  Mann,  p.  91. 

2  Mr.  Mann  was  born  in  1796,  and  died  in  1859.  He  was  Secretary  of  the  Board  of 
Education  of  Massachusetts,  1837-48;  served  four  years  in  Congress  as  the  successor  of 
John  Quincy  Adams;  and  was  President  of  Antioch  College,  Yellow  Springs,  Ohio,  from 
1852  till  his  death.     Sumner  passed  a  day  with  him  at  the  College  in  1855. 

8  Mr.  Alvord  was  the  chief  promoter  of  the  "  Personal  Replevin  "  statute,  intended  for 
the  protection  of  persons  claimed  as  fugitive  slaves,  and  wrote  an  able  report  in  its  behalf 
Leg  Doc,  House,  1837,  No.  51. 


164  MEMOIR  OF  CHARLES  SUMNER.         [1834-37. 

A  friend  who  knew  him  intimately,  and  whose  knowledge  of 
life  has  been  various,  referring  to  this  period,  says :  "  Taking 
him  as  a  whole,  he  was  the  most  attractive  young  man  I  have 
ever  known." 

At  his  office  he  was  always  found  in  the  midst  of  manuscripts 
and  heaps  of  law  books,  but  never  loath  to  break  oif  his  work 
for  a  talk  with  his  friends.  No  one,  whose  life  was  so  devoted 
to  study,  ever  gave  his  time  more  freely  to  others,  or  guarded 
himself  less  from  intrusion. 

At  Cambridge  he  kept  up  his  visits  at  Judge  Story's  and 
Professor  Greenleaf's.  He  as  well  as  Felton,  Longfellow,  and 
Cleveland  found  genial  society  in  the  home  of  Prof.  Andrews 
Norton,  a  learned  divine  whose  scholarship  was  not  confined  to 
theology.  He  was  a  welcome  guest  at  the  house  of  Mrs.  Wil- 
liam Eliot,  in  whose  son  Samuel,  a  college  student,  he  took  a 
special  interest.1  With  Mrs.  Howe,  at  whose  house  on  the 
Appian  Way  he  at  times  lodged,  and  with  Mrs.  Greenleaf,  who 
took  a  maternal  interest  in  him,  his  favorite  theme  of  banter  was 
the  perfect  woman  he  was  some  day  to  wed. 

Samuel  Lawrence  writes :  — 

"  During  this  period  Sumner  was  not  in  general  society,  and  visited  very 
few  houses  in  Boston.  He  was  an  admirable  talker,  with  off-hand,  frank, 
natural  manners,  enthusiastic  in  his  admiration  of  Judge  Story,  whose  house 
at  Cambridge  he  often  visited,  and  devoted  to  law  and  literature;  and  I  do 
not  believe  that  political  life  had  once  been  in  his  thoughts." 

Dr.  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes  writes  :  — 

"  He  had  already  a  name  for  scholarship,  especially  for  legal  knowledge. 
He  was  an  amiable,  simple-hearted,  blameless  young  man;  pleasant,  affable, 
cheerful,  with  little  imagination,  wit,  or  sense  of  humor.  I  remember  Park 
Benjamin  said  of  him,  in  his  rather  extravagant  way,  that,  if  one  told  Charles 
Sumner  that  the  moon  was  made  of  green  cheese,  he  would  controvert  the 
alleged  fact  in  all  sincerity,  and  give  good  reason  why  it  could  not  be  so. ' ' 

A  lady,  afterwards  the  wife  of  one  of  his  dearest  friends, 
who  knew  him  well  at  this  time,  as  also  after  his  return  from 
Europe,  writes :  — 

"As  a  young  man  he  had  a  fresh  enthusiasm;  though  never  brilliant 
socially,  he  interested  one  from  his  genuine  and  hearty  engrossment  in  the 
discussion  or  narration,  to  which  he  brought  always  many  and  accurate  facts. 
He  was  less  at  ease  with  women  than  with  men,  and  I  think  understood  them 
less.     He  had  a  very  marked  and  dutiful  respect  towards  elder  men,  whom 

i  Mr.  Eliot  is  the  author  of  "  The  Liberty  of  Rome,"  and  "  History  of  Liberty." 


JEt.  23-26.J  INTEREST  IN  YOUNG  STUDENTS.  165 

he  honored.  Where  he  was  so  familiar  as  he  was  at  our  house,  he  had 
an  affectionate  confidence  which  knew  no  shadow  or  distrust,  and  which 
stamped  him  as  an  unchanging  and  faithful  friend." 

A  lady  who  saw  him  during  the  evenings  which  he  passed  at 
Mr.  Alvord's  rooms,  writes :  — 

"  Mr.  Sumner  was  an  intimate  acquaintance  and  frequent  visitor.  The  talk 
varied;  sometimes  it  was  light  and  sparkling,  at  others  upon  the  topics  of  the 
day,  upon  politics  or  law.  How  well  I  remember  Air.  Sumner  at  that  time, 
tall  and  erect,  so  genial  and  so  joyous,  his  whole  face  lighting  up  with  inter- 
est and  enthusiasm !  He  was  not  then  a  reformer,  but  a  student.  Unlike 
most  New  England  scholars  he  was  not  satisfied  with  the  prescribed  years 
for  preparation,  but  longed  to  go  abroad  to  perfect  himself  in  his  law 
studies;  and  when  rallied  about  settling  down  in  life,  he  used  to  say,  '  I  am 
married  to  Europa.'  " 

Sumner  was  at  this  time  much  attracted  to  law  students  and 
undergraduates  with  whom  he  was  brought  into  association  while 
performing  his  duties  as  instructor  in  the  Law  School.  At  Mrs. 
Howe's  table,  where  he  was  accustomed  to  meet  them,  he  talked 
with  them  of  their  studies ;  and  with  some  he  kept  up  a  corre- 
spondence after  they  left  Cambridge.  One  of  these,  with  whom 
he  became  quite  intimate,  was  William  F.  Frick,  then  an  under- 
graduate, now  a  lawyer  of  Baltimore.  Thomas  Donaldson,  of 
the  same  city,  writes :  "  My  acquaintance  with  him  was  while  I 
was  an  undergraduate  at  Harvard.  I  remember  that  he  was 
exceedingly  kind  and  genial  in  his  manners,  and  that  he  took 
pleasure  in  conversing  with  young  students  who  could  give 
nothing  in  return  for  his  copious  stores  of  learning,  except  an 
admiring  attention." 

Judge  Charles  P.  James,  formerly  of  Cincinnati,  now  of 
Washington  City,  writes :  — 

"  My  acquaintance  (if  it  can  be  called  by  that  name)  with  Mr.  Sumner 
was  made  when  I  was  a  Sophomore,  messing  at  the  same  table  with  him  at 
Mrs.  Howe's.  Rufus  King,  of  Cincinnati,  his  cousin  James  Gore  King, 
J.  Frank  Tuckerman,  and  one  or  two  others,  were  of  the  mess. 

"  I  cannot  recall  the  particulars  of  our  table  intercourse,  but  remember  very 
well  the  general  fact  that  Sumner  talked  freely,  and  that  we  listened  eagerly. 
As  I  remember,  a  good  deal  of  his  conversation  was  really  addressed  to  us, 
although  it  was  carried  on  chiefly  with  Mrs.  Howe.  One  morning,  Sumner 
was  very  silent  at  the  breakfast  table,  and  King  complained  afterwards  of 
his  being  so  stupid.  You  will  perceive  that  his  failure  to  tell  us  something 
was  a  grievance. 

"  I  recall  one  little  incident  which  let  us  into  his  habits  of  reading.    After 


166  MEMOIR  OF  CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1834-37. 

tea,  when  we  were  gathered  in  Mrs.  Howe's  parlor,  Sumner  took  up  from  a 
table  an  engraved  portrait  of  Wellington,  and  observed  that  it  was  *  too 
young.'  Some  one  questioned  that.  'Why,'  exclaimed  Sumner,  'I  know 
his  age  perfectly ;  I've  read  a  hundred  lives  of  him. '  We  understood,  of 
course,  that  he  meant  only  whatever  lives  had  fallen  in  his  way.  Most  peo- 
ple would  be  likely  to  read  only  one,  —  which  none  of  us  had  done. 

"  I  remember  that  it  was  his  habit  to  study  and  prepare  lectures  at  the 
Law  School  until  eleven  o'clock  at  night,  and  that  it  was  Mrs.  Howe's  habit 
to  '  sit  up  '  for  him  in  order  to  have  an  hour's  talk.  She  had  what  may  be 
called  an  enthusiasm  for  him.  I  fancy  the  entertainment  between  them  was 
almost  wholly  intellectual,  as  Mrs.  Howe  had  a  man's  brain;  but  intellec- 
tual sympathy,  you  know,  is  very  sure  ground  for  friendship.1 

"My  impression  at  that  time  was  that  he  was  very  good  tempered,  and 
that  he  was  fond  of  youngsters,  —  at  all  events  as  listeners.  William  Story 
was  his  favorite,  as  he  well  might  be;  for  he  was  very  jolly  and  amusing, 
and  at  the  same  time  respectful. ' ' 

Ruf us  King  of  Cincinnati  writes :  — 

"  He  had  a  warm  sympathy  and  fellowship  with  the  *  boys,'  and  assumed 
no  professional  airs.  At  the  period  referred  to  I  and  in  fact  all  the  parties 
boarding  at  Mrs.  Howe's  were  undergraduates,  and  even  that  did  not  put  us 
beneath  his  penchant  for  student  life. 

"  The  only  distinct  recollection  I  have  of  the  incidents  in  our  prandial 
exercises  and  meetings  is  of  the  fiery  discussions  over  the  then  pending  ques- 
tion in  Congress,  concerning  the  '  Right  of  Petition,'  in  which  John  Quincy 
Adams  was  contending  with  the  Southern  politicians;  beginning,  I  think, 
in  some  interference  by  the  Post-office  authorities  with  the  transmission  of 
4  incendiary  matter  '  through  the  mails. 

"I  forget  just  how  we  were  divided,  or  who  formed  the  other  side;  but 
remember  how  Sumner  used  to  hurl  his  thunders  against  the  opponents  ot 
Free  Mails  and  Free  Petitions,  and  how  enthusiastically  Mrs.  Howe  used  to 
back  him  up  when  she  thought  the  youngsters  were  becoming  too  much 
excited  on  the  other  side." 

Judge  Story  wrote,  Feb.  5,  1835,  to  Sumner,  who  had  taken 
much  interest  in  his  son  :  — 

4 '  I  hope  you  will  allure  William  occasionally  to  your  room  to  keep  him  on 
correct  ground,  for  he  has  infinite  confidence  in  your  kindness  and  judgment 
on  such  subjects.  He  has  written  me  respecting  the  late  rebellion  2  in  a  very 
manly  and  just  tone.  A  word  from  you  will  do  more  than  an  hour  of  my 
preaching." 

1  Several  of  Mrs.  Howe's  letters  are  printed  in  the  Memoir  of  her  sister,  Mrs.  A.  J. 
Lyman,  Cambridge,  1876. 

2  A  college  disturbance. 


Ms.  23-26.1  DR.  LIEBER'S   WRITINGS.  167 

LETTERS. 


TO  DR.  FRANCIS  LIEBER,  PHILADELPHIA. 

Boston,  April  7,  1835. 

My  dear  Dr.  Lieber,  —  I  have  received  so  much  pleasure  from  two  of 
your  late  productions,  that  I  cannot  forbear  letting  you  know  it.  Dr.  Beck 
was  kind  enough  to  lend  me  your  paper,  read  before  the  Pennsylvania  Prison 
Society,  properly  vindicating  our  country  against  the  bad  logic  of  English 
politicians.  You  always  seem  to  be  ready  in  the  harness,  —  as  the  nursery 
phrase  has  it,  "  All  saddled,  all  bridled,  all  fit  for  the  fight."  I  rejoice  that 
our  country  has  found  a  son  —  by  adoption  or  birth  is  immaterial  —  so  prompt 
to  volunteer  in  her  cause.     I  think  your  argument  completely  successful. 

Your  volume,  entitled  "  The  Stranger  in  America,"  I  finished  yesterday, 
having  read  it  with  deep  interest.  I  followed  you  anxiously  over  every  inch 
of  the  fields  of  Ligny,  Waterloo,  and  Namur,  and  through  all  the  perils  that 
ensued,  from  hospital  to  hospital,  till  the  joyous  close  of  this  cycle  of  misfor- 
tunes in  the  love  of  your  fair  nurse.  Oh,  human  nature!  war  did  not  choke 
the  delicate  sensibilities  which  glow  in  either  sex,  or  alter  the  nature  of  man, 
which  indeed  is  indestructible.  I  think  the  Peace  Society  could  do  nothing 
better  than  to  reprint  your  chapter  on  Waterloo  as  a  tract,  or  at  least  as  an 
article  in  one  of  their  journals.  It  gives  the  most  vivid  sketch  I  ever  read 
of  the  horrors  of  war,  because  it  embodies  them  in  the  experience  of  one 
individual,  without  resorting  to  any  of  the  declamatory  generalities  which 
are  generally  used  with  that  view. 

Most  truly  your  friend, 

Chas.  Sumner. 


TO  CHARLEMAGNE  TOWER,  NEW  YORK.i 

Boston,  June  28,  1835. 
My  dear  Tower,  — .  .  .  I  was  truly  gratified  by  the  morsel  of  praise 
from  Anthon ; 2  to  have  one's  writing  remembered  a  year  is  no  small  gratifi- 
cation, especially  if  that  is  the  only  reward.  My  labors  in  the  "  Jurist  "  are 
pressing  and  heavy,  and  lack  the  exciting  stimulus  of  pecuniary  profit.  In- 
deed, I  fear  that  exertions  like  mine  will  meet  with  very  slight  return  in  the 
way  of  this  world's  gear.  If  you  or  any  of  your  friends  or  the  gentlemen  of 
the  bar  in  New  York  will  contribute  to  the  "  Jurist,"  the  assistance  will  be 
appreciated.  Mr.  Anthon  has  written  for  it.  In  the  last  number,  you  will 
see  my  name  announced  as  enlisted  in  two  projects  of  some  consequence.8 

1  Tower  had  become  a  student  in  the  law-office  of  Messrs.  John  L.  and  James  L.  Graham, 
of  New  York  City. 

2  John  Anthon  had  commended  Sumner's  review  of  Tavler's  "Law  Glossary." 
*  Ante,  p.  151. 


168  MEMOIR  OF  CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1834-37. 

Since  then,  I  have  been  appointed  reporter  of  the  Circuit  Court  of  the  United 
States  for  the  first  circuit  (Judge  Story's),  and  have  a  volume  already  in 
press,  which  will  be  published,  I  hope,  in  the  course  of  a  month  or  two. 

Rand  has  returned  fi'om  abroad,  and  is  full  of  the  men  and  sights  he  has 
seen.  He  has  received  as  great,  perhaps  greater,  attentions  than  any  other 
private  citizen  from  our  country  ever  met  with.1  All  the  distinguished  names 
of  the  law,  the  peers  of  the  law,  and  the  judges  paid  him  distinguished  honor. 
It  is  refreshing  to  me  —  strongly  attached  as  I  am  to  the  law  —  to  converse 
about  these  men  of  whom  I  read,  and  whose  works  are  every  day  cited  in 
our  courts,  with  many  of  whom  Mr.  Rand  became  acquainted. 

Don't  become  so  absorbed  in  practice  as  to  forget  the  law,  or 
Your  sincere  friend, 

Chas.  Sumner, 


TO  DR.  FRANCIS  LDZBER. 

Bostox,  June  28,  1835. 

My  dear  Friend,2  — ...  Judge  Story  showed  me  a  letter  from  you, 
from  which  it  appears  that  you  have  received  Mittermaier's  articles.  I  als6 
received  your  '•  National  Gazette  "  and  the  "  United  States  Gazette,"  con- 
taining the  annunciation  of  your  appointment.3  Have  you  translated  thi 
articles  yet?  How  long  are  they?  Do  you  propose  to  publish  them?  If  you 
have  not  time  to  translate  them,  send  them  here  and  I  will  have  them  trans- 
lated for  the  '  •  Jurist. ' '  4  Judge  Story  always  speaks  of  you  with  the  liveliest 
regard.  He  says  you  always,  when  he  converses  with  you,  set  him  a-thinking. 
I  am  glad  you  propose  to  publish  your  "  Recollections  of  Xiebuhr."  I  thought 
some  time  ago  that  you  might  profitably  publish  such  a  book.  When  do  you 
enter  upon  your  new  duties? 

Good-by.  Yours  ever, 

Chas.  Sumner. 

If  Dr.  Julius  comes  to  Boston,  I  wish  to  have  the  honor  of  seeing  him. 


TO  JONATHAN  C.  PERKINS,   SALEM. 

Boston,  July  10,  1836. 

My  dear  Sir,  —  Come  to  Boston  on  Monday  or  Tuesday,  and  I  will  in- 
troduce you  at  once  to  Pickering,5  who  is  no  talker,  and  have  you  baptized  in 

1  Mr.  Rand  was  indebted  largely  for  his  social  opportunities  in  England  to  letters  ol 
introduction  from  Charles  S.  Daveis. 

2  The  omitted  parts  of  this  and  other  letters  to  Dr.  Ueber  relate  largely  to  Sumner's 
efforts  in  obtaining  the  publication  of  Dr.  Lieber's  writings. 

*  To  a  professorship  in  the  University  of  South  Carolina. 

*  American  Jurist,  Oct,  1835,  Yol.  XIV.  pp.  330-344. 

*  Octavius  Pickering,  who  was  then  preparing  a  new  edition  of  his  Reports. 


^Et.  23-26.]  JUDGE   STORY.  169 

the  labor.  I  think  in  a  few  minutes,  with  the  volumes  before  me,  I  can  give 
you  some  hints  which  your  own  knowledge  and  experience,  I  doubt  not,  will 
improve  upon,  but  which  will  launch  you  in  your  labor.  Do  not  be  distrust- 
ful ;  faint  heart  never  won  success  in  law  more  than  in  love.  You  are  abun- 
dantly competent  to  the  task,  believe  me,  from  my  knowledge  of  you  and  of 
the  labor.  Mr.  Choate  beckons  you  to  come  up.  He  wished  me  to  say  that 
we  had  conferred  together  since  he  had  sealed  his  letter,  and  that  we  agreed 
in  all  the  premises,  and  also  in  the  feasibility  of  your  commencing  the  duty 
in  Salem.  Of  course  you  must  read  the  volume,  and  observe  all  the  cases 
which  would  illustrate  it,  that  have  been  decided  in  our  State  courts  since 
its  date. 

Don't  regard  the  money  as  the  pay.  It  is  the  knowledge  you  will  get,  — 
the  stimulus  under  which  your  mind  will  act  when  you  feel  that  you  are 
reading  law  for  a  purpose  and  an  end  other  than  the  bare  getting  of  informa- 
tion,—  every  spur  and  ambition  exciting  you;  depend  upon  it,  no  engraver 
will  trace  the  law  on  your  mind  in  such  deep  characters.  Abandon  pro  tern. 
all  other  legal  studies,  and  enfold  yourself,  like  the  silk- worm,  in  your  own 
web.  If  I  augur  right,  the  six  weeks,  in  which  I  think  you  will  accomplish 
it,  will  be  the  most  productive  of  your  whole  life.  In  them  you  will  feel  more 
palpably  your  progress  than  ever  before  in  the  same  amount  of  time. 

Your  extempore  readiness  to  undertake  the  labor  reminds  me  of  Ledyard, 
the  traveller,  who  was  asked  when  he  should  be  willing  to  start  to  explore  the 
interior  of  Africa;  he  replied,  "  To-morrow." 

I  shall  probably  be,  on  Tuesday  forenoon  next,  in  Judge  Story's  court. 

Pardon  the  haste  in  which  I  write,  and  believe  me 
Most  truly  yours, 

Chas.  Sumner. 


TO  CHARLES  S.  DAVEIS,  PORTLAND. 

Boston,  July  22,  1835. 

My  dear  Sir  ,  —  Judge  Story  has  told  me  several  times  that  I  must  en- 
deavor to  obtain  from  you  the  sight  of  a  letter  which  you  have  received  within 
a  few  months  from  Dr.  Haggard,1  of  Doctors'  Commons.  .  .  . 

Judge  Story's  "Commentaries  on  Equity  Jurisprudence  "  have  gone  to 
press.  He  thinks  more  highly  of  them  than  of  either  of  his  former  works. 
I  think  that  they  will  establish  a  new  epoch  in  the  study  of  chancery  in  our 
country.  How  much  more  of  an  honor  to  the  office  than  to  Judge  Story 
would  it  be,  were  he  made  Chief-Justice  of  the  United  States ! 2  Indeed,  pos- 
terity will  notice  his  absence  from  that  elevation  more  than  they  would  his 
presence  there,  as  the  Roman  people  observed  the  absence  of  the  favorite 
statues  of  Brutus  and  Cassius  in  the  imperial  procession  more  than  they 

1  John  Haggard,  reporter  of  cases  in  the  Consistory  Court,  and  also  in  the  Admiralty. 

2  Chief-Justice  Marshall,  who  was  appointed  by  President  John  Adams  in  1801,  died  July 
6,  1835,  and  was  succeeded  by  Roger  B.  Taney,  of  Maryland,  who  held  the  office  till  his 
death,  in  1864. 


170  MEMOIR  OF   CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1834-37 

would  have  noted  their  appearance.  Tacitus  tells  the  story  in  his  pregnant 
way  somewhere,  does  he  not?  Judge  Story  has  consented  to  deliver  a  eulogy 
on  the  late  Chief.  He  will,  of  course,  select  his  own  time,  which  will  be 
somewhere  in  October. 

With  great  respect,  I  am  yours  truly, 

Chas.  Sumner. 


TO  JONATHAN  C.  PERKINS. 

Boston,  July  28,  1835. 

My  dear  Sir,  —  I  am  delighted  that  you  are  so  pleased  with  your  work. 
I  felt  anxious  lest  my  recommendation  should  not  be  confirmed  by  your  ex- 
perience ;  but  your  letter  removes  all  doubt  on  that  score.  I  still  feel  that 
the  money  will  be  the  least  advantage  that  you  will  reap.  The  practice,  the 
self-confidence  (without  which,  if  properly  tempered  by  modesty,  nothing 
great  can  be  done) ,  the  habit  of  looking  up  cases  and  of  looking  down  upon 
the  opinions  of  judges,  and  the  wide  and  various  learning,  —  all  of  it  appli- 
cable particularly  to  the  business  of  our  State, — will  be  worth  more  to  you 
than  a  governmental  office.  I  believe  that  you  will  feel  yourself  a  stronger 
man  when  you  have  passed  through  this  labor  than  before.  .  .  . 

Yours  truly,  C.  S 


TO  DR.  FRANCIS  LIEBER. 

Boston,  Aug.  25, 1835. 

My  dear  Doctor,  —  The  day  has  gone  by  for  a  degree  for  Mittermaier 
this  season.  He  will  probably  receive  it  next  year.  ...  In  the  Revue  J^tran- 
gere,  edited  by  M.  Foelix,  of  Paris  (a  correspondent  of  mine),  is  a  long 
article  on  the  translations  of  Beaumont  and  Tocqueville,1  —  yours,  Dr. 
Julius's,  &c,  —  written  by  Mittermaier.  An  analysis  of  your  Preliminary 
Essay  is  given,  and  you  are  spoken  of  in  the  most  flattering  manner.  I 
wrote  an  editorial  notice  of  it  in  the  "  Advertiser  "  of  yesterday. 

I  am  determined  to  have  your  sketch  of  the  battle  of  Waterloo  published 
as  a  peace  tract,  or  as  an  essay  in  some  journal  of  the  Peace  Society ;  perhaps 
I  shall  write  some  introductory  remarks. 

I  feel  anxious  to  hear  from  your  * '  Reminiscences  of  Niebuhr. ' '  Now  is 
the  harvest-time  for  American  authors  in  England.  Perhaps  our  books  are 
now  sought  after  as  much  more  than  they  deserve  as  they  formerly  were  less 
than  their  deserts.  Put  your  sickle  in  while  the  sun  shines  and  the  golden 
sheaves  extend  their  necks  to  the  edge.  You  are  one  of  the  few  men  whom 
I  wish  to  see  with  a  fortune,  because  I  believe  you  would  use  it  as  one  who 
has  God's  stamp  should.     It  will  be  only  a  novum  organon  for  higher  exer- 

l  Their  Report  upon  the  Penitentiary  System  of  the  United  States. 


JEt.  23-26.]  IMPRESSIONS   OF  NIEBUHR.  171 

tion.  You  love  labor  so  lovingly,  and  drive  it  with  such  effect,  that  1  would 
risk  you  with  Croesus's  treasury.  By  the  way,  I  have  plans  and  set  ernes1 
(speculations,  the  world  calls  them)  by  which  I  hope  to  make  a  few  thou- 
sands.    If  I  succeed  I  will  let  you  know. 

Believe  me,  your  sincere  friend, 

Chas.  Sumner. 


TO  CHARLES  S.  DAVEIS. 

Boston,  Sept.  12,  1835. 

My  dear  Sir, — I  received  in  due  season  your  letter  with  its  valuable 
contents,  —  the  letter  of  Dr.  Haggard.  I  am  always  delighted  —  it  amounts 
almost  to  a  monomania  in  me  —  to  see  any  such  missive  from  abroad,  or  to 
hear  personal,  literary,  or  legal  news  about  the  distinguished  men  of  whom 
I  read.  .  .  . 

Mrs.  Guild  very  kindly  read  to  me,  a  few  evenings  since,  portions  of  late 
letters  from  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Ticknor.  They  spoke  of  a  dinner  at  Lord  Hol- 
land's, where  Mr.  T.  conversed  much  with  Lord  Melbourne  about  literature, 
our  politics,  &c,  the  latter  giving  the  palm  to  our  present  chief-magistrate2 
over  all  present  and  past  statesmen  of  our  country ;  also  of  a  delightful  con- 
cert at  Lord  Landsdowne's,  and  visits  to  Joanna  Baillie  and  Mrs.  Somerville.3 
They  were  to  start  the  day  after  the  date  of  the  last  letter  (July  24)  for  Ire- 
land.    Perhaps  you  have  heard  these  particulars  from  other  quarters. 

The  Law  School  is  flourishing  beyond  a  parallel,  containing  now  upwards 
of  fifty  students. 

Believe  me,  with  great  esteem, 

Most  truly  yours, 

Chas.  Sumner. 


TO  DR.  FRANCIS  LIEBER,  COLUMBIA,  S.  C. 

Boston,  Dec.  2,  1835. 

My  dear  Friend,  — Will  you  pardon  my  remissness,  my  long  undutiful 
silence?  Besides  the  usual  stock  of  things  to  do,  I  have  been  compelled  to 
prepare  anew  a  whole  number  of  the  "Jurist,"  which  was  burnt  up, — 
sheets,  proofs,  copy,  and  nearly  all,  on  the  morning  when  it  was  due.  I 
begin,  however,  to  descry  land.     Italiam!    Italiam! 

My  chief  anxiety  now  is  to  know  that,  in  your  journey  South  "  nearer  to 
the  sun,"  you  have  not  entirely  turned  your  back  upon  me. 

To-day  I  finished  your  "  Reminiscences,"  a  few  minutes  before  I  received 
the  copy  forwarded  by  you,  for  which  receive  my  thanks.  I  had  previously 
read  all  the  extracts  I  could  glean  in  the  English  journals,  the  "  Spectator  " 
and  the  "  Literary  Gazette,"  both  of  which  contain  highly  favorable  notices, 

1  Ante,  p.  155.  2  President  Jackson. 

8  Life  of  George  Ticknor,  Vol.  I.  pp.  408,  412,  413. 


172  MEMOIR  OF  CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1834-87 

some  extracts  from  which  I  shall  launch  in  the  Boston  u  Atlas."  Your  intro- 
duction is  admirable;  the  spirit  is  capital,  the  style  and  language  of  a  high 
order,  the  thought  instructive,  and,  above  all,  the  view  of  Niebuhr  lifelike. 
The  character  is  very  clearly  displayed;  it  stands  out  like  a  king's  head  on  a 
piece  of  coin.  Your  own  observations,  which  introduce  and  explain  a  remark 
of  the  historian,  and  your  conversation,  which  served  to  draw  out  his,  are 
very  fine ;  but  I  must  confess  that  my  impression  of  Niebuhr,  from  this  table- 
talk,  is  not  of  a  very  high  character.  I  love  him  and  feel  his  amiability,  not 
his  power.  There  is  little  or  no  point  or  depth  of  remark ;  nothing  epigram- 
matic or  sententious ;  very  little  of  a  higher  order  than  philological  or  anti- 
quarian criticism ;  really  little  or  nothing  of  general  remark  or  philosophical 
deduction,  which  is  brought  up  like  a  priceless  pearl  from  the  deep  ocean  of 
events,  —  particulars  which  always  sho^  themselves  in  your  writings,  and 
which  give  you  the  foremost  place  in  the  present  brochure.  To  tell  the  truth, 
you  appear  better  than  Niebuhr.  I  know  Niebuhr  was  great ;  I  have  full 
faith  in  him :  but  I  opine  he  was  not  a  great  talker ;  that  he  did  not  speak 
for  the  press,  and  that  his  thoughts  needed  the  ordeal  and  alchemy  of  his 
own  study  and  inkstand  to  be  in  proper  order  for  the  world.  You  have  done 
good  by  your  publication;  for  it  is  well,  in  these  days  of  dwarfish  studies,  to 
have  some  man  presented  to  our  eyes  whose  character  and  labors  may  shame 
our  moderated  steps,  and  whose  example  may  teach  us  how  necessary  and 
how  sweet  labor  is.  Besides,  your  book  will  lead  many  to  read  his  history, 
and  will  thus  contribute  to  shut  up  one  large  book  of  fable,  and  substitute  in 
its  stead  the  wonderful  deductions  which  have  been  wrought  out  from  such 
various  materials  as  those  of  Niebuhr,  and  which  go  to  establish  truth. 

The  "  North  American,"  you  know,  has  passed  from  Alexander  H.  Ev- 
erett to  Dr.  Palfrey,  who  is  pushing  it  pretty  hard,  and,  I  think,  may  revive 
it.     His  first  number  will  be  the  January  one.  .  .  . 
Believe  me,  most  faithfully  yours, 

Chas.  Sumner. 


TO  DR.  FRANCIS  LIEBER. 

Jan.  1,  1836. 

My  dear  Friend,  —  "  A  Happy  New  Year  "  to  you  and  yours;  and  many 
thanks  for  your  kind  letter  of  Dec.  13.  Judge  Story  sends  his  regards.  I 
doubt  the  truth,  somewhat,  with  all  humility  however,  of  your  views  in  your 
letter  with  regard  to  brilliant  conversation.  You  have  made  me  love  Nie- 
buhr, and  that's  a  great  end  gained ;  and  your  book  must  be  regarded  with 
great  interest  as  giving  an  insight  into  the  character  of  a  truly  great  man. 

Judge  Story  told  me  to  write  you  that  he  was  delighted  with  it,  and  par- 
ticularly with  your  account  of  yourself  in  the  introduction.  John  Pickering 
spoke  of  it  to  me  in  the  highest  terms.  He  thinks  every  thing  of  you,  and 
longs  to  have  you  back  among  us;  as  does  also  my  dear  judge,  who  says  that 
you  must  be  with  us  soon ;  that  Harvard  College  must  have  your  aid. 

Write  me  how  you  live,  or  rather  how  you  keep  from  dying,  in  the  liter- 


Mt.  23-26.]  SLAVERY  AND  EMANCIPATION.  173 

ary  Sahara  where  you  are  exiled ;  what  dew-drops  or  small  springs  of  refresh- 
ing water  can  you  meet  in  such  a  parched  and  arid  place;  or  do  I  miscon- 
ceive your  situation,  and  have  you  indeed  literary  and  social  advantages  ?  All 
of  which  I  devoutly,  though  despairingly,  hope.  When  shall  I  receive  your 
inaugural?    How  does  your  book  come  on? 

I  send  herewith  Judge  Story's  "  Eulogy; "  *  also  a  prospectus  of  the  Revue 
iZtrangere  which  I  have  received  from  Foelix,  and  several  prospectuses  of  the 
Revue  de  Legislation  et  de  Jurisprudence  by  a  Paris  correspondent  of  mine ; 
also  the  sheets  of  Sparks's  "  Washington,"  containing  the  letter  which  you 
alluded  to  in  your  correspondence  with  me  "  auld  lang  syne."  2  .  .  . 

Yours  truly, 

Chas.  Sumner. 


TO  DR.  FRANCIS  LIEBER. 

Bostox,  Jan.  9,  1836. 

My  dear  Friend,  —  Before  you  receive  this  letter  yon  will  receive  a 
newspaper  containing  a  slight  notice  of  your  "  Reminiscences  "  with  refer- 
ences to  some  English  criticisms.8  Since  that  was  written,  the  magazines  for 
November  have  been  received  at  the  Athenseum.  The  "  Monthly  Review," 
the  old  monthly  of  England,  supported  of  old  by  the  first  scholars  and  writers, 
Burke  and  Mackintosh,  — the  same  review  which  noticed  your  "  Stranger  in 
America  "  so  handsomely,  —  has  an  article  of  fifteen  pages  on  your  "  Remi- 
niscences," written  or  rather  compiled  in  a  spirit  of  kindness  and  respect 
towards  you.  It  will  do  you  good  in  England.  If  any  other  reviews  or 
notices  appear,  I  will  promptly  apprise  you  of  them.  The  German  Grammar 
has  not  yet  shown  itself  above  the  rolling  sea  of  publications.  I  am  looking 
out  for  it,  and  shall  probably  descry  it  on  its  first  kissing  the  light. 

I  omitted  to  send  by  my  last  letter  and  package  the  sheet  from  Sparks  of 
Washington's  letter  to  his  nephew.  It  is  not  so  much  to  the  point  as  you 
hoped,  I  am  inclined  to  think.  You  are  in  the  midst  of  slavery,  seated 
among  its  whirling  eddies  blown  round  as  they  are  by  the  blasts  of  Governor 
McDuffie,  fiercer  than  any  from  the  old  wind-bags  of  JEolus.  What  think 
you  of  it?  Should  it  longer  exist?  Is  not  emancipation  practicable?  We 
are  becoming  abolitionists  at  the  North  fast;  the  riots,  the  attempts  to 
abridge  the  freedom  of  discussion,  Governor  McDuffie's  message,  and  the 
conduct  of  the  South  generally  have  caused  many  to  think  favorably  of 
immediate  emancipation  who  never  before  inclined  to  it. 

1  Upon  Chief-Justice  Marshall. 

2  Letter  of  President  Washington  to  Bushrod  Washington,  of  July  27,  1789.  Sparks's 
"Life  and  Writings  of  George  Washington,"  Vol.  X.  p.  23.  Lieber's  "Political  Ethics" 
(1875)  Vol.  II.  pp.  30-34.  Bushrod  Washington  was  the  nephew  of  the  President,  and 
desired  the  appointment  of  District  Attorney  of  the  United  States  for  the  Virginia  District. 
His  application  was  not  successful,  but  he  was  afterwards  appointed  a  Judge  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  United  States  by  President  Adams. 

3  Contributed  by  Sumner  to  "Daily  Atlas,"  Jan  6, 1836. 


174  MEMOIR   OF   CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1834-37. 

I  think  your  "  Stranger  in  America"  is  not  in  the  Boston  market.  A 
young  friend  of  mine,  a  son  of  Professor  Greenleaf,  who  read  it  on  my  hint, 
is  ravished  with  it,  and  tried  to  get  a  couple  of  copies  to  present  to  his  friends. 
His  mother  and  father  were  delighted  with  it. 

Yours  ever, 

Chas.  Sumner. 


TO  REV.  DR.  JOHN  G.  PALFREY,  i  CAMBRIDGE. 

Boston,  Feb.  5,  1836. 

My  dear  Sir,  —  It  will  give  me  great  pleasure  to  write  an  article  on  the 
Uses  and  Importance  of  History,  considering  several  topics  suggested  by  Dr. 
Lieber's  inaugural,  —  especially  when  you  and  Dr.  Lieber  concur  in  inviting 
me;  but  I  feel  unwilling  to  pledge  myself  to  do  it  for  the  July  number. 
My  professional  engagements,  my  own  editorial  duties,  unsupported  by  a  full 
list  of  able  contributors,  and  the  several  connections  in  which  I  find  myself 
implicated  with  works  in  preparation  or  in  press,  to  say  nothing  of  lighter 
demands  which  society  and  the  current  literature  of  the  day  make  upon  my 
time,  leave  me  with  less  opportunity  than  inclination  for  literary  composi- 
tion. History,  however,  is  a  theme  I  love;  and  I  hope  to  be  able  to  call  the 
attention  of  the  public  to  the  importance  of  its  study,  through  the  pages  of 
your  journal,  as  early  as  the  October  number  if  not  in  July.  There  are 
two  other  subjects  which  I  have  at  heart,  and  wish  to  consider  in  your  jour- 
nal, if  agreeable  to  you;  one,  the  particular  features  which  distinguish 
Judge  Story's  law  treatises  from  the  English  law  books,  presenting  a  con- 
densed view  of  the  distinctive  character  of  his  law  writings  rather  than  a 
review  and  analysis  of  an  individual  work.  The  other  subject  is  legal  educa- 
tion, with  a  view  to  correct  some  erroneous  notions  on  the  subject,  and  to 
suggest  courses  and  methods  of  study.  These  can  be  made  the  matter  of 
future  conversation  between  us.2  With  my  best  wishes  for  your  health, 
I  am,  my  dear  sir, 

Yours  very  truly, 

Chas.  Sumner. 

1  Dr.  Palfrey  was  born  in  1796,  and  is  still  a  resident  of  Cambridge.  He  was  professor 
of  Sacred  Literature  in  Harvard  University,  1831-39  ;  and  a  member  of  Congress,  1847-49. 
Among  his  various  contributions  to  literature  is  a  "History  of  New  England."  His 
article  on  Lord  Mahon's  "History  of  England,"  —  printed  in  the  " North  American  Re- 
view,'' of  which  he  was  for  several  years  the  editor,  — was  in  Sumner's  judgment  "one  of 
the  best  specimens  of  criticism  which  our  country  has  produced."  Allibone's  "Dictionary 
of  Authors,"  Vol.  II.  p.  1491.  Sumner  began  his  first  political  speech,  Nov.  4,  1845, 
with  a  tribute  to  Dr.  Palfrey  for  his  manumission  of  inherited  slaves,  —  the  legal  details  of 
which  Sumner  had  assisted  in  arranging.  Works,  Vol.  I.  p.  151.  They  were  at  this  period, 
and  for  many  years  after,  very  closely  associated  with  each  other  in  the  political  movement 
against  slavery. 

2  He  did  not  write  any  of  the  proposed  articles  for  the  "North  American  Review," 
named  in  the  letter. 


JEt.  23-26.1  LETTER  TO  A  YOUNG  LADY.  175 

TO  MISS   PETERS,  PHILADELPHIA. 

Boston,  April  30,  1836. 

My  dear  E.,  —  I  have  often  chided  myself  and  sometimes  you  for  suffer- 
ing our  correspondence  to  die  away.  Business  and  the  absorbing  calls  of  the 
world,  to  which  you  are  a  stranger,  have  laid  their  iron  hands  upon  me,  so 
that  I  find  it  very  difficult,  even  for  a  short  time  and  for  the  sweet  indulgence 
of  friendship,  to  disengage  myself  from  their  strong  grasp.  But  this  is  the 
life  of  man.  He  grows  up  and  salutes  labor  and  responsibility  on  the  thresh- 
old of  manhood,  and  these  continue  his  constant  and  inseparable  companions 
during  his  whole  pilgrimage,  until  at  last  the  wayfarer  is  permitted  to  lay 
down  his  load.  Pardon  this  vein,  which  I  have  accidentally  struck  upon, 
and  which  will  certainly  jar  upon  a  young  lady's  ear.  .  .  . 

Are  your  school  days  over?  If  not,  I  suppose  you  are  anxious  for  the  last 
day  to  come  that  shall  fully  discharge  you  from  the  dominion  of  childhood. 
I  know,  however,  that  you  have  filled  up  your  time  with  profitable  studies, 
so  that  you  will  be  well  prepared  for  a  change.  I  should  be  pleased  to  know 
what  your  studies  have  been,  and  to  what  pursuits  you  have  turned  your 
attention;  for,  believe  me,  I  shall  watch  your  progress  with  deep  interest, 
and,  if  by  my  counsel  I  may  be  instrumental  in  guiding  your  pursuits,  it  will 
be  to  me  a  source  of  unfeigned  pleasure. 

What  is  there  new  in  the  fashionable  world  of  Philadelphia?  Mrs.  Wood's 
illness  cuts  you  off  from  one  source  of  enjoyment.  Boston  and  Philadelphia 
seem  to  have  vied  with  each  other  to  see  which  would  excel  in  the  praise  of 
this  vocalist.  Everybody  among  us  was  stark  mad,  not  excepting,  perhaps, 
one  of  your  friends. 

After  this  long  letter,  melancholic  and  "  thus  saith  the  preacher  "  as  is  its 
tone,  I  think  the  law  of  reciprocity  will  dictate  to  you  a  proper  course. 

Let  me  not  forget  to  thank  you  for  the  neat  and  well-braided  watch- 
guard  which  you  sent  me.     It  was  a  most  acceptable  present. 
Truly  and  affectionately  your  friend, 

Chas.  Sumner. 


TO  PROFESSOR  SIMON  GREENLEAF,  CAMBRIDGE. 

June  29,  1836,  half-past  twelve  o'clock,  a.m. 

My  dear  Professor,  —  I  have  walked  safely  to  the  city,  and  have  done 
some  study  and  browsed  on  some  pages  for  a  hint  on  your  question  to  me. 
I  do  not  remember  any  case  which  points  your  way ;  but  I  find  that  the  rules 
of  court  throw  some  light.  Rule  twenty-seven  of  the  First  Circuit  requires 
that  the  same  property  without  waste  should  be  restored  by  the  stipulator. 
The  rules  of  the  Southern  District  of  New  York  are  much  more  to  the 
point.  .  .  . 

I  do  not  think  of  any  thing  further ;  and  so  good  night,  or  rather  good 
morning. 

Chas.  Sumner. 


IT 6  MEMOIR  OF  CHARLES  SUMNER.  [1834-37. 

jST.B.  —  There  is  an  agreeable,  romantic  feeling  in  sitting  up  and  trim' 
ming  your  solitary  lamp  when  the  whole  world  are  stretched  in  repose.  And 
this  romantic  feeling  is  especially  heightened  when  one  is  writing  law,  as  if 
the  dry  bones  of  our  science  at  this  dead  hour  sparkled  with  phosphorescent 
light.  The  palpable  stillness  about  you,  especially  in  a  city,  and  the  tri- 
umphing feelings  which  throb  in  your  veins  from  the  consciousness  that  you 
are  one  of  a  very  few  who,  at  that  witching  hour,  are  enjoying  consciousness, 
enable  you  to  work  with  ardor  and  attention.  Abstraction  at  that  time  will 
visit  you,  and  the  thousand  cares  of  the  world  seem  to  have  passed  away  in 
that  hum  of  business  which  some  hours  since  died  upon  your  ears.  Night! 
I  almost  wish  there  were  no  day ;  that  we  could  never  ' '  peep  through  the 
blanket  of  the  dark,"  but  always  live  under  those  genial  influences  which 
the  spirits  of  the  other  world  have  selected  as  most  agreeable,  and  as  those 
under  which  they  visit  this  earth,  —  "  that  witching  hour  when  ghosts  and 
goblins  walk." 

If  I  do  not  wish  to  hear  the  cock-crow  I  must  to  bed.  Believe  me,  by 
night  and  by  day,  in  darkness  and  light, 

Especially  yours,  C.  S. 


TO  CHARLES  S.  DAVEIS. 

Boston,  4  Court  St.,  Aug.  8,  1836. 

My  dear  Sir,  — ...  Your  opinion  of  my  father's  conduct  and  state- 
ment was  grateful.1  I  have  not  yet  had  an  opportunity  of  communicating  it 
to  him.  I  assure  you,  however,  of  his  cordial  thanks  for  your  kind  feelings. 
The  public  will  have  a  victim,  and  his  situation  seemed  to  present  him  as  the 
fit  offering. 

Let  me  ask  pardon  for  the  negligent  detinue  of  your  papers,  amounting,  I 
fear,  almost  to  a  conversion. 

While  I  am  writing  now,  Mr.  Metcalf ,2  the  best  common-law  lawyer  in 
our  State,  enters.  I  propose  to  him  your  case,  not  stating  the  venue  or  the 
names  of  any  interested  in  it.  He  says,  in  his  sententious  style,  "  The  admin- 
istrator will  hold." 

Yours  faithfully, 

Chas.  Sumner. 

1  The  slave-rescue  case,  ante,  pp.  24-26.  The  omitted  parts  of  letters  to  Mr.  Daveis 
refer  mostly  to  purchases  of  books  which  Sumner  made  for  him  in  Boston,  points  of  law  on 
which  he  was  consulted  by  Mr.  Daveis,  and  letters  received  by  either  from  Europe,  which 
were  interchanged. 

2  Theron  Metcalf,  the  reporter,  author  of  digests  and  law  reports,  and  of  "  Principles  of 
the  Law  of  Contracts,"  and  a  Judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Massachusetts.  He  died, 
Nov.  13, 1875,  at  the  age  of  ninety-one. 


jEt.  23-26.J  VISIT  TO  NEW  YORK.  177 

TO  GEORGE  S.  HILLARD,   BOSTON. 

Saratoga,  Aug.  19,  1836. 

My  dear  Hillard,  —  It  is  not  a  week  since  I  detached  myself  from 
Court  Street  and  the  demesnes  that  there  adjacent  lie,  and  I  have  lived  fast 
and  much,  and  crowded  a  space  of  less  than  five  days  with  the  incident  and 
excitement  of  a  month  of  common  being.  I  just  begin  to  recognize  the  seda- 
tive influences  of  the  Spring  water  and  Spring  tedium,  after  the  disturbing 
powers  of  steamboats  and,  greater  still,  New  York  City  have  ceased  their 
exercise.  I  have  not  been  able,  though  much  observing  these  matters,  to  find 
any  uncommon  degree  of  life  or  elasticity  in  the  society  here,  and,  let  me  go 
further,  of  beauty  either.  Indeed,  I  have  not  seen  a  face  since  I  have  been 
here  which  invited  my  attention.  Some  pretty  girls  there  are,  because  they 
are  young  and  buoyant  and  innocent;  but  none  that  have  beauty's  signet. 
Abram  Fuller  still  leads  the  dances.  He  and  Martin  Van  Buren  at  this 
moment  engross  the  attention  of  the  United  States  Hotel. 

I  left  Boston,  you  know,  Monday  at  one  o'clock;  but  a  delay  on  the  rail- 
road prevented  the  steamboat  leaving  Providence  as  early  as  usual,  and  we 
did  not  arrive  at  New  York  till  after  ten  o'clock  Tuesday  morning.  Tuesday 
forenoon  I  saw  the  chancellor  [Kent] ;  talked  with  him  about  Judge  Story  and 
Mr.  Greenleaf ,  and  accepted  an  invitation  to  take  tea  with  him ;  dined  with 
George  Gibbs ;  saw  the  bookseller  Halsted ;  took  tea  and  passed  the  evening 
with  the  chancellor,  and  was  invited  by  Mrs.  Kent  to  take  a  family  dinner 
next  day.  Wednesday  forenoon,  visited  the  burnt  district;  the  Court  of  Er- 
rors, then  in  session;  dined  with  the  chancellor,  and  then  rode  in  a  carriage 
with  him  and  his  daughter  and  Mr.  Buggies  *  to  see  the  outer  portions  of  the 
city,  where  man's  work  gradually  fades  away  into  the  clear  country  fresh 
from  God.  After  that  I  took  tea  and  passed  a  pleasant  evening  with  Gibbs 
and  his  sister ;  returned  to  my  lodgings  and  packed  up  for  departure  Thurs- 
day morning,  at  seven  o'clock,  for  Albany,  at  which  time  I  was  duly  on  board 
the  boat,  where  I  met  S.  D.  Parker,  and  had  considerable  pleasant  conversa- 
tion. By  him  I  was  introduced  to  Mrs.  Clinton  (the  widow  of  Governor  De 
Witt  C),  her  daughter,  and  niece,  with  all  of  whom  I  had  much  conversa- 
tion, and  made  myself  —  but  I  will  not  say  it,  for  they  had  such  good  man- 
ners as  to  appear  pleased  even  if  they  were  not.  Mrs.  Clinton  invited  me 
urgently  to  call  and  see  Judge  Spencer,  —  the  old  patriarch  of  the  law,  — 
with  whom  she  proposed  to  spend  some  time  in  Albany.2  I  accordingly 
called,  and  was  repaid  for  my  visit.  The  judge  looks  exactly  like  Allston's 
Jeremiah.  Friday  morning  I  left  Albany  for  Saratoga;  and  here  I  am,  on 
the  evening  of  that  day,  in  a  raw,  ill-provided  chamber,  without  a  carpet  and 
with  a  pine  table,  on  which  I  now  write.  How  are  all  friends?  Bright  eyes 
and  fair  faces? 

With  love  to  all  my  friends, 

Ever  yours,  C.  S. 

1  Samuel  B.  Ruggles. 

2  Judge  Ambrose  Spencer  married  successively  two  sisters  of  De  Witt  Clinton.  Ha 
died,  in  1848,  at  the  age  of  eighty-three. 

vol.  i.  12 


178  MEMOIR  OF  CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1834-37 

TO  GEORGE  S.  HILLARD. 

Cataract  House  (American  Side), 
Niagara  Falls,  Aug.  29,  1836. 

My  dear  Hillard,  —  Your  letter,  postmarked  Aug.  22,  which  I  have 
just  received,  was  full  to  repletion  —  if  such  a  thing  be  possible  of  a  friendly 
letter  —  with  interesting  facts,  chronicling  the  circumstances  of  our  little 
interests,  and  bringing  me  almost  the- company  of  the  hours  and  days  which 
have  run  their  round  in  Boston  since  I  left.  Thank  you  for  all,  and  am  glad 
to  know  that  my  sister  is  no  worse;  that  the  judge  is  well;  that  Cushing  is 
lord  of  my  chair,  and  that  all  friends  are  as  they  were.  I  give  you  joy  in 
Greenleaf's  visits.  While  you  have  been  easy  and  calm  "as  a  summer's 
morning,"  I  have  been  jolted  over  hundreds  of  miles  of  rough  roads,  and 
kept  in  a  constant  state  of  occupation  and  fermentation,  by  change  of  scene, 
accommodation,  and  objects  of  interest.  I  have  literally  not  had  time  to 
sketch  a  word  even  to  you  or  my  sister  before  y ester  noon,  except  the 
scrawl  of  Saratoga  Springs,  which  I  trust  you  received  tanquam  sero.  Since 
that  note  I  have  been  to  Ballston,  where  I  passed  two  most  agreeable  days  in 
company  with  several  delightful  women  and  men.  Of  the  women,  by  far 
the  most  to  my  taste  was  Mrs.  William  Kent,  with  whom  I  could  talk  the 
livelong  night,  as  she  had  that  prompt,  suggestive  manner,  combined  of  voice 
and  expression,  which  would  not  suffer  the  springs  of  conversation  to  cease 
their  flow.  Mrs.  De  Witt  Clinton,  Judge  Spencer,  and  many  other  interest- 
ing personages  were  there;  also  a  young  Scotch  advocate,1  who  has  since  been 
my  travelling  companion,  and  is  now  writing  at  the  same  table  with  me.  He 
is  the  nephew  of  Lord  Jeffrey,  and  an  intimate  friend  of  Sergeant  Talfourd 
and  other  Englishmen  of  whom  we  are  curious.  He  is  thoroughly  educated, 
and  is  indifferent  in  his  manners  and  dress,  though  you  will  perceive  in  your 
intercourse  with  him  that  unbought  grace  which  is  supplied  by  natural  good- 
ness of  heart  and  a  considerable  mingling  with  refined  society.  He  will  go 
with  me  to  Quebec,  and  perhaps  continue  on  to  Boston.  He  is  deeply  inter- 
ested in  the  present  English  Ministry,  inclining  towards  radicalism,  as  does 
his  friend  Talfourd.  Not  the  least  point  of  interest  about  him  is  his  igno- 
rance of  many  things  and  persons  about  which  our  curiosity  is  very  lively. 
He  has  never  been  present  at  a  debate  in  Parliament,  though  he  has  often 
gone  up  to  Bellamy's  at  midnight,  in  order  to  ascertain  the  result  of  a  divi- 
sion, not  liking  to  await  the  intelligence  in  the  morning  papers.  To  my 
inquiry  about  Bulwer,  he  said,  "  It  so  happened  that  I  have  never  read  any 
of  his  works."  I  have  seen  a  pleasant  letter  of  friendship,  written  him  by 
Talfourd.  Another  intimate,  to  whom  he  is  now  writing,  is  Keen,  the  Chan- 
cery reporter,  of  the  firm  of  Mylne  &  Keen,  reporters  of  Lords  Lyndhurst 
and  Brougham.  Hayward,  of  Faust,  he  knows  well.  He  will  visit  Boston, 
when  you  will  see  him,  as  I  shall  feel  it  my  duty  as  well  as  pleasure  to  show 
him  our  lions. 

We  left  Ballston  for  Saratoga  last  Monday;  were  whirled  over  the  beau- 
tiful railway  from  Schenectady  to  Utica,  a  distance  of  eighty  miles,  in  about 

1  Thomas  Brown. 


&t.  23-26.]  VISIT  TO  NIAGARA.  179 

four  hours ;  were  crowded  in  a  foul  tavern  at  Utica ;  passed  a  most  exciting, 
brilliant  day  at  Trenton  Falls,  seventeen  miles  from  Utica,  —  a  natural  curi- 
osity, unsurpassed  I  believe  by  any  in  the  country,  where  rocks  and  water 
and  overhanging  trees  present  all  their  strangest  combinations  (I  wish  you 
could  see  them),  and  fill  the  mind  with  the  most  beautiful  ideas.  My  blood 
flowed  quick,  and  my  mind  seemed  exhilarated  in  no  common  degree,  when 
I  first  descended  from  the  lofty  banks  into  the  deep  bosom  of  the  rocks 
through  which  the  stream  tumbles  along  for  several  miles,  descending  from 
stratum  to  stratum.  These  falls  alone  are  worth  a  journey.  From  Utica  I 
took  a  canal-boat,  in  the  evening,  and  the  next  forenoon  found  myself  at 
Syracuse,  a  village  in  the  interior  of  New  York,  —  a  distance  of  sixty-five 
miles.  From  Syracuse  I  have  travelled,  in  company  with  four  or  five  others, 
in  extra  coaches,  hired  by  ourselves  exclusively,  through  the  vast  interior 
of  this  State,  to  the  great  climax  of  Nature's  majestic  freaks,  —  Niagara. 
Here  I  arrived  Saturday  evening,  and  need  not  tell  you  that  I  felt,  as  it  were, 
a  deep  weight  —  heavier  far  than  lead  —  on  my  mind,  from  the  overpower- 
ing majesty  and  sublimity  of  this  falling  water.  I  feel  oppressed,  as  I  walk 
round  the  banks  and  frequent  the  paths  of  travellers  here,  by  the  scene:  1 
cannot  look  upon  it  tranquilly;  the  thoughts  which  it  excites  disturb  the 
mind  as  much  as  the  noise  of  its  thunders  and  of  its  crashing  against  the 
rocks  shakes  the  body.  I  here  feel  the  force  of  Burke's  "  Theory  of  the  Sub- 
lime," —  referring  it  to  the  principle  of  terror.  I  will  not  attempt  a  descrip- 
tion, for  it  would  be  lame  and  superfluous.  I  am  now  writing  with  its  voice 
filling  my  ears,  and  in  an  atmosphere  pleasantly  cooled  by  the  motion  of  its 
waters.  This  afternoon  I  shall  pass  over  to  the  Clifton  House,  in  Canada, 
where  I  shall  stay  a  day,  previous  to  embarking  for  Toronto,  Kingston,  and 
Montreal.  While  at  Trenton  Falls,  I  saw  Tracy's  [Howe]  *  and  his  party's 
names  on  the  book,  three  days  before  me.  I  next  met  their  names  at  Niagara, 
which  they  left  the  morning  of  the  day  on  which  I  arrived,  much  to  my  dis- 
appointment. I  longed  to  see  them.  Timothy  Walker  2  left  there  an  hour 
or  two  before  I  arrived.  I  saw  his  open,  smiling  visage  in  the  stage  as  I  was 
within  a  mile  of  the  falls.  I  met  D.  F.  Webster,8  for  one  minute,  while 
changing  horses  at  Geneva,  in  the  centre  of  New  York.  It  was  a  most  agree- 
able rencontre.  You  may  send  this  letter  to  my  sister.  A  storm  is  rising 
and  the  rapids  are  raging. 

With  my  love  to  all  my  friends,  believe  me  affectionately 

Yours, 

Chas.  S. 

1  The  son  of  Judge  Howe,  and  a  fellow-student  of  Sumner  in  the  Law  School. 

2  Of  Cincinnati,  author  of  "Elements  of  Geometry"  and  of  "Introduction  to  American 
Law."    He  died,  in  1856,  at  the  age  of  fifty-three. 

8  Fletcher  Webster,  son  of  Daniel  Webster,  from  whose  name  the  first  Christian 
was  afterwards  dropped. 


180  MEMOIR   OF   CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1834-37 


TO  PROFESSOR  SIMON  GREENLEAF. 

Clifton  House,  Canada, 
Niagara  Falls,  Aug.  30,  1836. 

My  dear  Mr.  Greenleaf,  —  Here  am  I  in  the  dominions  of  "  Mariner 
Bill,"  with  a  new  government  clasping  me,  and  a  new  tone  of  manners,  I 
fancy,  about  me.  I  have  just  established  myself  on  this  side  of  the  wonder- 
ful cataract,  and  now  would  fain  stretch  the  hand  of  friendship  across  its  vast 
waters  to  meet  yours.  Its  thunders  shake  the  building  in  which  I  write,  and 
its  spray  gives  an  additional  dampness  to  a  stormy  evening.  But  now  I  think 
of  quiet  Cambridge  and  my  dear  friends  there,  I  almost  lose  the  sense  of  its 
awful  presence.  I  hope  you  are  well,  and  have  laughed  much,  for  Chancellor 
Kent  feared  that  it  was  otherwise  with  you,  and  said  that  he  regarded  a  laugh 
as  a  most  healthy  operation.  A  long  and  most  grateful  epistle,  which  I  received 
to-day  from  Hillard,  makes  mention  of  your  occasional  calls  at  our  office. 
"  A  visit  from  Mr.  G.,"  says  Hillard,  "does  me  good  for  the  rest  of  the 
day;  "  so  I  trust  you  will  not  cease  doing  what  I  know  is  so  near  your  heart. 

Since  I  have  been  here  I  have  haunted  every  path  and  point  of  observa- 
tion from  which  the  falls  can  be  seen;  I  have  descended  staircases,  clambered 
over  rocks,  hugged  along  narrow  and  precipitous  paths,  crossed  bending 
bridges,  scaled  elevated  acclivities,  penetrated  caverns,  and  finally  drenched 
myself  utterly  in  venturing  under  the  falling  sheet  of  waters.  I  have  seen 
the  cataract  in  broad  sunlight,  and  again  by  beautiful  moonlight: 

**  If  thou  wouldst  view  fair  Melrose  aright, 
Go  visit  it  by  the  pale  moonlight;  "  — 

and  so  I  would  have  an  observer  look  upon  Niagara.  The  bow  of  Heaven 
seems  almost  perpetually  to  rest  on  its  face,  spanning  its  white  foam  and 
emerald  green.  It  is  not  withdrawn  now,  even  for  the  night,  for  the  full  orb 
of  the  moon  creates  a  most  beautiful  arc,  seen  a  little  less  distinctly  than  that 
of  the  sun,  but  full  and  marked  by  all  the  prismatic  colors.  I  have  sat  for 
an  hour  contemplating  this  delightful  object,  with  the  cataract  sounding, 
like  the  voice  of  God,  in  my  ears.  But  there  is  something  oppressive  in 
hearing  and  contemplating  these  things.  The  mind  travails  with  feelings 
akin  to  pain,  in  the  endeavor  to  embrace  them.  I  do  not  know  that  it  is  so 
with  others;  but  I  cannot  disguise  from  myself  the  sense  of  weakness,  inferi- 
ority, and  incompetency  which  I  feel.  Many  there  are  who  play  with  a  dog 
on  the  side  of  the  falls,  and  amuse  themselves  by  all  the  tricks  which  thought- 
less merriment  resorts  to.  But  this  tone  might  well  become  a  sermon,  if  I 
were  writing  one,  —  and  think  of  my  sermonizing  for  your  benefit! 

The  first  two  days  I  passed  on  the  American  side,  having  arrived  there 
Saturday  evening;  and  this  afternoon  have  crossed,  bag  and  baggage,  to 
Canada,  intending  to  spend  a  day  here,  previous  to  taking  the  steamboat  for 
Toronto,  Kingston,  Montreal,  and  Quebec.  Since  I  left  home,  which  is  just 
a  fortnight,  I  have  been  constantly  occupied  with  sight-seeing.  New  York 
first  engaged  my  attention.  There  I  saw  the  chancellor,  who  of  course  in- 
quired about  you,  and  especially  of  your  laughing  propensities,  as  to  which 


Mr.  23-26.]  VISIT  TO   MONTREAL.  181 

I  made  a  favorable  report.  He  said  he  should  rather  sit  to  be  scraped  by  a 
barber  ten  times  than  to  have  his  portrait  taken.  He,  however,  seemed  to 
consent  to  the  operation.  Mrs.  William  Kent,  whom  I  afterwards  saw  at 
Ballston  Springs,  informed  me  that  an  artist  in  New  York  —  I  think  it  was 
Inman  —  had  taken  two  portraits,  one  of  which  was  for  her,  and  the  other 
the  artist  now  had  on  hand,  perhaps  for  sale ;  and  she  suggested  whether  it 
would  not  be  agreeable  to  us  to  purchase  that.  I  intended  to  have  stopped 
at  Hyde  Park  on  my  way  up  North  River,  to  see  Miss  Johnston  and  Miss 
Allen ;  but  it  would  have  detained  me  a  day,  so  I  passed  on,  admiring  the 
beautiful  situation  of  some  of  the  houses  of  the  village  on  the  banks  of  the 
river.  While  in  Albany,  I  saw  Judge  Spencer,  who  received  me  kindly  be- 
cause he  understood  I  was  Judge  Story's  friend ;  also  Johnson,  the  reporter, 
who  is  one  of  the  most  agreeable  and  gentlemanly  men  I  ever  met.  Indeed, 
I  have  had  reason  to  think  of  Judge  Story,  and  to  be  grateful  to  him  every 
step.  My  solitary  trouble  now,  aside  from  the  natural  anxiety  with  regard 
to  the  condition  of  absent  friends,  is  that  my  absence  will  delay  the  appear- 
ance of  the  judge's  book,  by  putting  off  the  index.1  I  hope  otherwise, 
however.  I  hope  you  will  enjoy  Commencement  and  the  great  "  Eighth,"  3 
in  neither  of  which  I  shall  participate. 

Give  my  love  to  Mrs.  G.,  and  believe  me, 

Ever  yours, 

Chas.  Sumnee. 


TO  GEORGE  S.  HILLARD. 

Montreal,  Sunday,  Sept.  4,  183G. 
My  deae  Hillaed,  — ...  The  narrow  streets  and  their  utter  darkness 
without  the  least  show  of  lamps,  and  the  rough  and  apparently  disjointed 
pave,  reminded  me  of  the  description  I  have  read  of  European  cities ;  and 
when  I  came  to  look  round  by  the  light  of  day,  and  saw  the  ancient  weather- 
beaten  aspect  of  things,  the  tin  covering  of  the  roofs  and  especially  the 
French  names  of  all  the  streets,  —  Rue  Notre  Dame,  Rue  St.  Antoine,  fyc, — 
and  heard  French  conversation  all  about  me,  you  may  suppose  that  for  some 
moments  I  may  have  imagined  myself  where  I  so  much  long  to  be,  in  a  for- 
eign city. 

I  have  been  in  court  and  seen  the  judges  with  clergymen's  gowns,  and 
white  bands,  and  revolutionary  three-cornered  cocked  hats,  sitting  under  the 
armorial  bearings  of  England.  All  proceedings  here  are  in  French  or  Eng- 
lish according  to  the  desire  of  the  parties,  and  the  juries  are  sometimes 
addressed  in  one  tongue  and  sometimes  in  another.  To-day  I  have  visited 
•  the  immense  Catholic  Cathedral,  and  worn  my  knees  and  patience  by  compli- 
^  ance  with  the  devotional  attitudes  of  the  place.  The  service,  homily,  &c, 
were  in  French.  I  am  obliged  to  stay  in  this  place  longer  than  I  feel  willing 
to,  because  no  steamboat  leaves  on  Sunday  night ;  I  shall  start  Monday  even- 

1  Vol.  II.  of  "  Equity  Jurisprudence,"  ante,  p.  150. 

2  Post,  p.  182. 


182  MEMOIR  OF    CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1834-37. 

ing  at  eight  o'clock  for  Quebec,  where  I  expect  to  arrive  the  next  day  at 
about  three  o'clock,  it  being  a  distance  of  one  hundred  and  eighty-four 
miles. 

I  am  still  with  my  English  friend,  and  like  him  immensely;  he  is  full  of 
knowledge  and  acquisition,  without  the  least  display. 

Montreal  is  a  stagnant  place,  without  energy  enough  to  keep  up  the  appear- 
ance of  life;  with  thirty  thousand  inhabitants,  but  without  a  directory;  with 
close  and  crowded  streets,  but  without  lamps;  and  with  many  persons  of 
apparent  fashion  but  without  a  single  hack.  Holmes  1 1  trust  has  succeeded. 
I  long  to  hear  about  it.  Quincy  will  speak  while  I  am  in  Quebec ; 2  I  will 
endeavor  to  listen.  My  recollections  to  all  my  friends.  The  Misses  Mason 
won  all  hearts  at  Ballston.  I  heard  much  of  them  while  there.  Judge 
Story  I  am  asked  about  everywhere. 

Yours,  C.  S. 


TO  LUTHER  S.  CUSHING,  BOSTON. 

Montreal,  Sept.  5,  1836. 

My  dear  Cushing,  — .  .  .  I  am  at  the  Exchange  Coffee  House.  I  have 
been  obliged  to  stay  here  three  days,  during  which  I  have  seen  strange  things, 
heard  much  poor  French  jabbered,  seen  a  parade  of  the  soldiery  and  visited 
the  courts.  Do  I  mistake  or  am  I  right,  when  I  think  that  the  judges  and 
lawyers  all  look  better  fed  than  ours  do,  more  replete  with  wine  and  other 
good  things?  You  see  none  of  the  paleness  and  the  disagreeable  lines  of 
study  on  their  countenances. 

I  visited  the  Law  Library  for  a  moment  with  a  gentleman  of  the  bar,  who, 
seeing  that  I  was  a  stranger,  offered  to  introduce  me.  There  are  some  few 
American  reports,  —  Peters  and  Wheaton,  — but  the  bulk  of  the  Library,  I 
think,  consists  of  French  works.  .  .  . 

Dr.  Barber  8  is  in  Montreal,  where  he  proposes  to  deliver  a  course  of  lectures 
on  phrenology ;  he  is  full  of  hope,  and  anticipates  a  considerable  audience.  I 
nave  had  a  good  deal  of  pleasant  conversation  with  him. 

At  eight  o'clock  this  evening  I  start  for  Quebec. 

Yours,  Charles  S. 

1  Oliver  "Wendell  Holmes's  poem  before  the  *.  B.  K.  Society,  entitled,  "Poetry:  a  Met- 
rical Essay." 

2  Celebration  of  the  Second  Centennial  of  Harvard  College,  Sept.  8,  1836,  with  an 
address  by  President  Quincy.  Quincy's  History  of  Harvard  University,  Vol.  II.  pp.  639- 
708.  See  a  sketch  of  the  pavilion,  erected  on  the  college  grounds  for  the  dinner,  in  "  The 
Harvard  Book,"  Vol.  I.  pp.  51,  52. 

8  1784-1864.  Dr.  Jonathan  Barber,  a  teacher  of  elocution  in  Harvard  College  when 
Sumner  was  a  law  student. 


^Et.  23-26.1  VISIT   TO    QUEBEC.  183 

TO  GEORGE  S.  HILLARD. 

Quebec,  Sept.  7,  1836. 

My  dear  Hillard,  —  After  long  wanderings,  I  have  at  length  arrived  at 
this  great  castle.  Never  till  now,  wearied  with  travel  and  the  state  of  per- 
petual unrest  in  which  I  have  been  kept,  did  I  perceive  the  full  weight  of  tiie 
curse  upon  the  Wandering  Jew.  Alas,  too,  for  this  sinner,  he  had  no  steam- 
boats to  facilitate  his  movements,  and  no  hotels  to  relieve  the  natural  rigors 
of  travel.  I  long  for  some  of  the  rest  afforded  by  long  days,  and  late  nights, 
of  study. 

You  can  have  no  idea  of  Quebec.  If  I  thought  Montreal  was  foreign,  I 
think  Quebec  is  more  so.  The  upper  part  of  the  city,  which  is  the  court 
end,  is  entirely  surrounded  by  a  massive  wall,  over  which  cannons  are  brist- 
ling, and  on  which  mortars  are  squatting  in  silent  passiveness. 

The  citadel  is  an  impregnable  place  of  about  five  acres ;  but  I  will  not 
weary  you  or  myself  by  a  description,  for  you  may  read  many  more  faithful 
than  I  can  pen  in  my  present  haste.     Soldiers  meet  you  at  every  turn. 

Sept.  8.  I  have  just  returned  from  a  visit  to  the  Falls  of  Montmorency, 
nine  miles  from  Quebec,  a  slender  and  rather  beautiful  single  fall  of  water, 
said  to  be  two  hundred  and  forty  feet  high;  but,  to  the  visitor  of  Trenton 
and  Niagara,  Montmorency  seems  like  a  mill-dam.  And  yet  I  am  glad  to 
have  seen  it,  for  it  has  enlarged  my  standard  of  comparison  of  Nature's  works, 
and  has  satisfied  a  curiosity  which  I  can  date  back  to  the  time  when  I  first 
studied  geography  under  a  woman's  tuition.  The  euphony  of  the  name  has 
perhaps  lent  some  charm  to  the  falling  waters. 

I  have  presented  Judge  Story's  letter  to  Judge  Sewall,1  who  lives  about 
three  miles  from  the  city  in  a  beautiful  country  seat,  who  treated  me  very 
civilly.  I  am  engaged  to  dine  with  him  enfamille  to-morrow.  He  is  a  very 
polite  and  sensible  old  gentleman.     His  conversation  was  very  agreeable. 

When  I  shall  arrive  at  Boston  I  can  hardly  tell,  — perhaps  next  Saturday. 
Who  knows  but  I  may  be  finally  baffled,  and  run  the  race  of  Peter  Rugg?  2 
That  I  am  u  the  missing  man  "  you  are,  I  presume,  ready  to  cry  out. 

I  hope  you  have  had  comfortable  weather ;  most  delightful  for  travelling 
we  have  had,  but  cold.  Perhaps  here  on  the  frozen  loins  of  the  North,  the 
weather,  herald  of  icy  winters,  has  appeared  sooner  than  with  us,  nearer  the 
sun  as  we  are.  Remember  me  to  my  friends.  I  rejoice  with  you  in 
the  Harvard  celebration  of  to-day,  and  shall  drink  a  glass  of  wine  to  you  and 
old  Harvard  and  Judge  Story  at  my  dinner,  the  bell  for  which  will  soon 
strike.  Yours, 

C.  S. 

1  Chief-Justice  Jonathan  Sewall  died  Nov.  12, 1839,  in  his  seventy-fourth  year. 

2  "Peter  Rugg,  the  Missing  Man,"  — a  tale  of  which  William  Austin,  a  friend  of 
Sumner's  father,  was  the  author. 


184  MEMOIR   OF  CHARLES  SUMNER.  [1834-37. 


TO  GEORGE  S.  HILLARD. 

Montreal,  Sept.  12,  1836. 

My  dear  Hillard,  —  Once  again  in  this  French  place  I  send  you  greet- 
ing. I  shall  carry  this  letter  into  Vermont  with  me,  where  I  shall  commit  it 
to  the  care  of  the  hundred-handed  giant  who  keeps  up  the  intercourse  be- 
tween the  different  and  most  distant  parts  of  the  country,  "  and  wafts  a  sigh 
from  Indus  to  the  Pole." 

I  have  just  received  yours  of  Aug.  30,  and  am  sorry  that  sickness  has 
grappled  hold  of  you.  I  trust  to  see  you  restored  on  my  return.  I  sympa- 
thize with in  his  affliction,  but  am  accustomed  to  view  life  and  the 

great  change  in  such  colors  as  to  consider  death  very  little  to  be  mourned. 
But  an  only  daughter  and  sister  are  a  grievous  loss. 

I  wish  you  had  delayed  your  letter  till  the  evening  of  <£.  B.  K.,  that  I 
might  have  heard  the  success  of  Holmes.  I  picture  the  success  of  our  poet 
as  complete,  making  him  the  cynosure  of  all  eyes,  and  the  observed  of  all 
observers. 

I  left  Quebec  Saturday  night  (twelve  o'clock)  Sept.  10,  the  most  extensive 
conflagration  which  ever  raged  in  that  city  not  yet  entirely  subdued.  The 
inefficiency  of  the  fire  department  was  ridiculous,  without  hose,  suction  appa- 
ratus, I  may  almost  add,  engines  and  firemen.  Their  efforts  against  the 
furious  element  reminded  me,  from  their  impotency,  of  Gulliver's  aid  in 
extinguishing  the  flames  at  Lilliput.  While  at  Quebec  I  made  the  acquaint- 
ance of  Conway  Robinson,  of  Virginia,  a  friend  of  the  "  Jurist "  and  author  of 
the  work  on  "  Practice;  "  of  his  newly-married  bride,  the  daughter  of  B.  Wat- 
kins  Leigh,  and  of  Judge  Gaston  1  (the  famous  William),  of  North  Carolina. 
They  arrived  there  on  a  tour,  Judge  Gaston  having  left  his  daughters  behind 
on  the  Hudson.  He,  however,  proposes  to  visit  Boston  next  week  with  them. 
The  judge  is  a  very  agreeable  and  talented  man,  of  remarkable  polish  and 
blandness  of  manner,  about  fifty-six.  I  also  dined  with  the  venerable  Chief- 
Justice  of  Lower  Canada  and  his  family,  and  had  a  very  pleasant  time. 
Starting  from  Quebec  at  twelve  o'clock  Saturday  night,  I  arrived  in  Montreal 
Monday  forenoon  at  half -past  ten  o'clock;  being  imprisoned  ("Denmark  is 
a  prison,"  and  so  is  a  steamboat)  for  two  nights  on  board  an  elegant  and 
spacious  boat  with  few  passengers  besides  an  agreeable  Russian  Count  with 
mustaches,  &c,  I  was  heartily  glad  once  again  to  tread  terra  Jirma.  At  Port 
St.  Francis,  a  landing  midway  between  Quebec  and  Montreal,  I  parted  with 
my  English  friend  Brown. 

In  Montreal  to-day  I  attended  court,  and  heard  what  I  supposed  was  the 
calling  of  the  docket,  and  the  conversation  between  the  lawyers  incidental 
thereto,  with  quite  an  animated  argument  growing  out  of  the  filing  of  an 
affidavit,  —  all  of  which  were  in  French.  Indeed  this  is  the  language  which 
meets  you  everywhere  in  Canada,  reminding  you  of  the  origin  of  the  Colony 

1  1778-1844.  Judge  Gaston  remained  in  office  till  his  death.  In  the  State  Constitu- 
tional Convention  of  1835,  he  opposed  the  proposition  to  deprive  free  negroes  of  the  right  to 
vote  which  they  had  previously  enjoyed. 


Mt.  23-26.]  GRAY  AS  A  POET.  185 

and  of  its  conquest.     I  have  felt  humbled  at  my  inability  to  speak  French, 
and  also  to  understand  what  T  hear  spoken. 

To-morrow  (Tuesday,  Sept.  13,  anniversary  of  Wolfe's  great  victory  and 
death),  I  shall  leave  Montreal  for  the  South,  commencing  or  rather  continu- 
ing my  journey  homeward. 

Steamer  "  Wolooski,"  Lake  Champlain, 
Six  o'clock,  p.  m.,  Tuesday,  Sept.  13. 
...  In  a  paper  which  I  have  just  found  on  board  the  boat  I  have  read 
with  infinite  delight  the  debate  in  the  British  Parliament  on  Texas.     A  blow 
has  been  struck  which  will  resound. 

Yours,  Chas.  S. 

P.  S.  I  have  studied  Gray's  poetry  during  my  wanderings.  His  fame  is 
a  tripod,  resting  on  those  three  wonders,  —  the  "Elegy,"  "Bard,"  and 
"  Progress  of  Poesy."  The  ode  on  "  Eton  "  and  "  Hymn  to  Adversity  "  are 
fine,  but  comparatively  inferior. 

How  my  blood  boils  at  the  indignity  to  S.  E.  Sewall!  * 


TO  CHARLES  S.  DAVEIS. 

4  Court  St.,  Oct.  13,  1836. 
My  dear  Mr.  Daveis, — Behold  me  again  in  my  office,  "  returned 
from  the  wars  "  of  a  long  journey,  and  listening  to  the  cases  of  clients  and 
the  dull  whisper  of  lawbooks.  Work  is  pleasant  after  play;  as  most  cer- 
tainly play  is  precious  after  work.  I  have  had  a  long  play-time,  and  must 
now  embrace  labor  as  my  mistress.  My  recollections  of  my  long  journey  are 
tipped,  as  with  silver  and  gold,  by  its  last  scenes  at  Portland.  Your  kindness 
and  hospitality  have  deeply  tinged  my  reminiscences  of  the  place.  .  .  . 

Rand  has  received  a  long  and  cordial  letter  from  Lord  Denman,  thanking 
him  for  books  which  he  sent,  and  proposing  to  him  for  his  answer  a  question 
upon  which  the  King's  Bench  have  divided,  and  judgment  is  suspended.2  .  .  . 
Believe  me,  very  faithfully  yours, 

Chas.  Sumner. 


TO  DR.  FRANCIS  LIEBER,  NEW  YORK. 

Boston,  Nov.  17,  1836. 
My  dear  Friend,  —  I  thank  you  for  remembering  me  so  cordially  after 
so  absorbing  an  event  as  your  letter  spoke  of;  and  I  congratulate  you  and 
your  wife,  ex  imo  pectore,  upon  your  deliverance  from  the  perils  of  the  sea. 
...  I  congratulate  you,  and  wish  I  could  take  you  by  the  hand  and  tell  you 
my  joy.8 

1  Mr.  Sewall  had  been  assaulted  in  Boston  by  a  Southern  slaveholder,  on  account  of  his 
appearing  as  counsel  for  fugitive  slaves,  ante,  p.  25. 

2  A  question  of  the  measure  of  damages  on  the  breach  of  warranty  in  the  sale  of  a  horse. 
The  other  omitted  parts  of  the  letter  are  an  answer  to  inquiries  of  Mr.  Daveis  as  to  points 
of  law  arising  in  his  practice. 

3  Dr.  Lieber  had  just  returned  from  a  visit  to  the  West  Indies. 


186  MEMOIR  OF  CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1834-37. 

All  your  friends  here  are  well.  Dr.  Palfrey  is  well ;  and  Judge  Story  as 
ever  is  in  an  overflow  of  spirits.  He  is  now  on  his  circuit  in  Rhode  Island, 
and  will  not  return  for  several  days.  The  second  volume  of  his  work  on 
"  Equity  Jurisprudence  "  has  appeared  since  you  left  our  terra  firma.  He  is 
now  engaged  in  preparing  the  report  of  the  Massachusetts  Commissioners,  of 
whom  he  is  chairman,  on  the  "Codification  of  the  Common  Law;"  the 
report  will  aim  to  show  that  codification  is  at  once  expedient  and  practicable. 
It  will  make  an  era,  perhaps,  in  the  history  of  the  law  in  our  country;  for, 
coming  with  the  authority  of  Judge  Story's  name  and  with  the  cogency  of 
his  learning  and  reason,  it  will  be  calculated  to  have  a  very  great  influence 
throughout  the  pountry,  and  perhaps  to  flow  back  with  a  strong  tide  upon 
law-reform  in  England. 

The  subject  of  an  international  copyright  law  has  been  much  discussed 
among  us  lately.  Sargent,1  of  the  "  Atlas,"  has  written  some  spirited  arti- 
cles, which  assume  the  right  ground.  Willis  2  has  returned  home,  and  is  full 
of  this  subject.  A  leading  article  in  a  late  number  of  the  London  "  Metro- 
politan "  (Captain  Marryatt's)  calls  upon  the  British  government  to  take 
some  steps  in  the  matter. ^  Longfellow  has  returned  home,  having  arrived 
only  three  days  ago,  full  of  pleasant  reminiscences  and  of  health.  He  tells  me 
that  he  called  upon  Mittermaier,  with  a  letter  from  you.  He  is  a  very  pleasant 
fellow,  and  will  at  once  assume  the  charge  of  Ticknor's  department.  Judge 
Story  has  written  to  Mittermaier;  so  also  has  John  Pickering.  Harvard 
College  gave  Mittermaier  the  degree  of  LL.D.  last  Commencement,  and  I 
have  the  parchment  diploma  in  my  iron  safe,  to  forward  to  him  at  the  earli- 
est opportunity.  Mr.  Pickering  is  about  publishing  another  edition  of  his 
"Americanisms."  He  is  well,  and  as  kind  as  ever.  He  is  truly  your 
friend  and  admirer. 

Longfellow  left  the  Appletons  in  Switzerland.  Mrs.  Newton  8  is  well  and 
charming.  I  regret  that  you  could  not  come  to  Boston.  I  shall  pray  that 
the  next  storm  may  send  you  into  our  harbor.  What  projects  have  you  in 
hand? 

John  Lowell,  Jr.,  who  died  in  India,  has  left  by  will  two  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  or  three  hundred  thousand  dollars  to  trustees,  the  income  to  be  ex- 
pended in  lectures  on  science,  religion,  politics,  &c,  to  be  delivered  in  Boston 
during  six  months  of  the  year,  by  professors  appointed  for  that  purpose.  It 
is  calculated  that  each  professor  shall  have  at  least  three  thousand  dollars  for 
his  six  months'  work.  None  of  the  money  to  be  expended  in  a  building. 
Here  is  the  place  for  you!  You  must  have  it.  Of  this  more  hereafter. 
Felton  wrote  the  article  on  your  ' '  Reminiscences ; ' '  otherwise  it  would  have 
been  done  by, 

Affectionately  yours, 

Chas.  Sumner. 

1  John  O.  Sargent,  a  classmate  of  Sumner,  and  afterwards  associated  with  the  New  York 
"Courier  and  Enquirer." 
a  Nathaniel  P.  Willis. 
*  A  daughter  of  William  Sullivan,  an  eminent  lawyer  of  Boston. 


Mt.  23-26.]  A  TEACHER  IN  THE  LAW  SCHOOL.  187 

TO  PROFESSOR  SIMON  GREENLEAF,  WASHINGTON,  D.  C. 

Boston,  Jan.  25,  1837. 

My  dear  Friend,  — Many  thanks  for  your  cordial  letter  of  the  11th  from 
Washington;  and  much  pardon  do  I  need  at  your  hands  for  the  lugubrious, 
hypochondriacal  epistle  which  I  inflicted  upon  you.  I  write  now  to  greet  you 
on  your  way  home.  Pray  stay,  as  long  as  your  affection  requires,  with  your 
daughter,  and  banish  all  thought  of  the  Law  School.  All  are  cheerful,  re- 
spectful, and  contented,  and  seem  to  receive  the  law  with  perfect  faith  from 
their  pro  tern,  professor.  A  murmur,  slight  as  that  of  a  distant  brook,  has 
reached  me  from  a  counsel  against  whom  I  decided  in  a  moot-court  case,  with 
an  expression  of  an  intention  to  appeal  to  Caesar  on  his  return.  The  parties 
were,  however,  entirely  respectful,  and  none  have  given  me  any  reason  to  be 
uneasy.  Starkie  I  hear  three  days  in  the  week,  while  Kent  I  encounter 
every  day.  This  week  I  have  held  two  courts,  and  decided  the  question  of 
partnership  and  statute  of  limitations;  and  also  that  of  the  Hindu  witness. 
I  held,  in  the  first  case,  that  the  admission  of  one  partner  after  a  dissolution 
did  not  take  a  case  out  of  the  statute;  and  I  took  a  technical  distinction, 
which  enabled  me  to  evade  the  force  of  the  late  Massachusetts  and  English 
cases,  so  as  to  decide  the  case  independent  of  them.  The  venue  being  laid  in 
Rhode  Island  removed  it  from  their  influence ;  but  I  put  it  on  grounds  which 
may  be  maintained  in  Massachusetts  even  in  the  face  of  those  cases.  In 
the  other  case  I  held  that  the  deposition  of  the  Hindu  priest  was  admissible, 
for  reasons  which  I  will  explain  fully  when  I  have  again  the  joy  of  your 
countenance. 

The  students  inquire  of  me  daily  when  you  will  be  back,  and  enter  earn- 
estly into  your  forensic  contest.  I  have  explained  again  and  again  the  nat- 
ure of  the  question  you  have  argued,  and  endeavored  to  enforce  and  illustrate 
your  views  :  in  short,  to  make  the  school  "  Warren-Bridge  men."  I  have  been 
with  you  in  your  labors,  and  have  hung  with  anxious  confidence  upon  the 
accents  of  your  lips.  I  have  hoped  that  some  of  your  points  might  reach  our 
dear  judge's  prejudices,  and  bear  them  away.  If  such  be  the  case,  I  shall 
have  great  joy  with  you.  To  convince  him  would  be  a  greater  triumph  than 
to  storm  a  citadel.1 

Mrs.  Greenleaf  has  a  sorrowful  widowhood.  Your  absence  makes  her 
desolate.  Bereft  of  you,  she  seems  as  if  deprived  of  the  precious  lustre  of 
her  eye  or  of  the  goodly  light  of  the  sun.  I  have  passed  as  many  hours  as  1 
could  snatch  for  such  pleasure  from  my  various  calls  in  Cambridge  and  Bos- 
ton, in  conversing  with  her  on  those  topics  which  you  know  are  often  vexed 
between  us.     I  have  re-argued  the  case  with  her  several  times ;  and  I  believe 

1  Professor  Greenleaf  was  attending  the  Supreme  Court  as  counsel  for  the  defendants  in 
the  celebrated  case  of  The  Charles  River  Bridge  v.  The  Warren  Bridge,  11  Peters'  Reports, 
p.  420,  — a  case  which  settled  the  doctrine  that  public  grants  should  be  construed  strictly. 
This  view  was  supported  by  Professor  Greenleaf  against  Mr.  Webster,  the  counsel  for  the 
plaintiffs.  Some  conservative  people  (among  them  Judge  Story,  who  dissented)  regarded 
the  decision  as  contrary  to  the  Constitution  and  perilling  rights  of  property.  Story's  "  Life 
and  Letters,"  Vol.  II.  pp.  262-273. 


188  MEMOIR  OF   CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1834-37. 

she  thinks  more  favorably  of  me  than  she  did  of  old.  Indeed,  I  have  thought 
that  she  now  entertains  some  hope  that  I  shall  eventually  not  be  found 
wanting.1 

The  students  attend  all  the  exercises  promptly  and  constantly,  and  seem 
to  take  an  unabated  interest  in  their  studies,  studying  the  cases  referred  to 
in  the  marginal  notes.  I  endeavor  to  stimulate  them  as  much  as  possible, 
and  flatter  myself  that  I  have  at  least  kept  the  old  breath  in  the  body,  if  I 
have  not  succeeded  in  breathing  into  it  any  new  afflatus.  We  shall  all  wel- 
come you  back ;  and  we  have  long  ago  said  — 

"Ducite  ab  urbe  domum,  mea  carmina,  ducite  Daphnim."  2 

But  do  not  hasten  from  Litchfield,  and  remember  me  to  your  daughter,  who, 
I  hope,  is  well. 

Codification  is  at  a  stand-still.  Nothing  has  been  said  about  it  yet,  though 
there  is  a  prevailing  impression  that  it  will  pass,  at  least  so  far  as  the  crimi- 
nal law  is  concerned.  The  Legislature  have  not  yet  plunged  into  mischief, 
though  they  are  floundering  on.  I  have  come  to  the  end  of  my  paper  and  of 
my  thoughts,  and  must  hasten  to  take  the  "hourly"  (on  the  outside)  for 
Cambridge. 

Ever  yours  affectionately,  C.  S. 


TO  REV.  DR.  JOHN   G.  PALFREY. 

Dane  Law  College,  Feb.  3,  1837. 

My  dear  Sir,  — ...  I  have  lately  received  from  Dr.  Lieber  the  MSS. 
of  his  German  Grammar,  which  he  is  desirous  that  you  should  examine  be- 
fore it  is  offered  to  any  bookseller.  I  enclose  the  letter,  which  explains  its 
nature  and  his  desires. 

And  now  let  me  excuse  myself  from  a  failure  of  contract  on  my  part  touch- 
ing a  certain  article.8  The  absence  of  Judge  Story  and  Mr.  Greenleaf  has 
actually  swamped  the  whole  of  the  last  month  so  far  as  I  am  concerned.  Daily 
lectures  and  moot-courts  and  the  calls  of  business  and  correspondence  have 
absorbed  every  minute  of  my  time,  taking  me  to  Cambridge  every  day,  and 
again  taking  me  back  to  the  city.  To  one,  however,  who  grapples  with  such  a 
variety  of  labor  as  yourself,  I  feel  that  my  excuse  is  very  slender;  but  I  most 
freely  confess  my  humiliation  at  thus  finding  myself  a  debtor.  Mr.  Green- 
leaf's  return  in  a  few  days  will  leave  me  a  freer  man ;  and  I  shall  at  once 
proceed  to  make  a  dividend  on  the  various  outstanding  claims  against  me. 

Very  truly  yours, 

Chas.  Sumner. 

1  A  reference  to  banter  concerning  matrimony. 

2  Virgil.     Eel.  VIII.  68. 
«  Ante,  p.  174. 


JEt.  23-26.]        CODIFICATION   OF  THE   COMMON  LAW.  ] 89 

TO  PROFESSOR  MITTERMAIER,  HEIDELBERG. 

Boston  (Massachusetts,  U.  S.  America),  March  27,  1837. 

My  dear  Sir, —  My  friend,  Mr.  Pickering,1  has  communicated  to  me 
the  flattering  terms  which  you  have  used  in  your  letter  to  him  with  regard  to 
the  "  American  Jurist,"  a  journal  with  which,  for  several  years,  I  have  been 
editorially  connected.  I  assure  you  of  the  high  gratification  afforded  to  my- 
self and  to  my  associates  by  your  favorable  opinion. 

You  kindly  promised,  in  your  letter  to  Mr.  Pickering,  to  furnish  our  jour- 
nal with  information  respecting  the  law  in  Germany.  Be  assured  that  your 
communications  will  be  highly  valued.  The  subject  of  codification  is  begin- 
ning to  excite  a  strong  interest  in  our  country,  and  we  naturally  look  to  Ger- 
many for  light.  Any  views  which  you  should  be  willing  to  furnish  with 
regard  to  the  present  state  of  the  controversy  in  Germany  would  be  read  with 
the  deepest  attention.  Among  us,  the  codification  proposed  is  simply  revision 
and  redaction,  — the  reduction  of  a  portion  of  the  vast  mass  of  decided  cases 
{Jurisprudence  des  arrets)  to  a  written  text, — thus  establishing,  as  it  were, 
a  stratum  of  written  law,  which  will  give  firmness  and  solidity  to  that  portion 
which  remains  unwritten.  By  such  a  course,  it  seems  to  me  that  we,  in  a 
great  degree,  avoid  the  evils  pointed  out  by  Savigny  and  the  Historical 
School.  We  still  preserve  the  historical  features  of  the  law,  not  presuming 
to  frame  a  new  system  from  new  materials  without  consulting  the  previous 
customs,  habits,  and  history  of  the  country.  The  error  of  Jeremy  Bentham 
and  of  John  Locke  was  in  supposing  that  they,  in  their  closets,  could  frame 
de  novo  a  code  for  a  people.  Locke  prepared  a  code,  a  century  ago,  for  one 
of  the  North  American  colonies,  which  proved  a  signal  failure.  The  attempt- 
to  codify  the  law  in  the  United  States  is  now  making  only  in  the  State  of 
Massachusetts.  A  resolve  has  just  passed  our  Legislature,  authorizing  the 
Governor  to  appoint  Jive  commissioners  to  codify  the  criminal  law,  leaving 
the  remaining  portions  untouched.  Upon  the  success  of  this  experiment  will 
depend,  in  a  great  measure,  future  exertion  on  the  subject.  At  the  last  ses- 
sion of  the  Legislature  commissioners  were  appointed,  at  the  head  of  whom 
was  Judge  Story,  to  consider  the  expediency  and  practicability  of  codifica- 
tion. Their  report  I  shall  forward  to  you  with  the  numbers  of  the  "  Jurist,"  2 
and  also  a  report  made  to  the  Legislature  at  its  present  session  on  capital 
punishment.8 

Some  time  ago  I  received  from  the  Hon.  President  Quincy,  of  Harvard 
University,  Cambridge,  a  diploma  of  LL.D.,  to  be  forwarded  to  you,  with 
an  accompanying  letter  from  the  President.     Allow  me  to  express  my  great 

1  John  Pickering. 

*  The  Report  of  the  Commissioners,  drawn  by  Judge  Story,  which  favors  a  limited  sys- 
tem of  codification  of  the  common  law,  was  printed  as  a  legislative  document.  1837, 
House  No.  8.     Story's  "Life  and  Letters,"  Vol.  II.  pp.  241-251. 

8  At  this  period,  1835-37,  the  death-penalty  was  much  discussed  in  the  legislature  of 
Massachusetts,  Robert  Rantoul,  Jr.,  strongly  urging  its  abolition  in  reports  which  argued  at 
length  all  the  points  in  the  controversy  ;  but  the  measure  did  not  prevail.  Leg.  Doc.  1837 
House  Nos.  4,  43.     Senate  No.  69. 


190  MEMOIR  OF  CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1834-37 

gratification  that  the  oldest  and  best  endowed  literary  seminary  of  my  coun- 
try has  bestowed  its  laurel  upon  one  whose  labors  and  character  have  so  well 
earned  it.  The  interest  which  you  have  ever  shown  in  American  jurispru- 
dence, and  the  able  expositions  of  it  which  have  appeared  in  your  "  Critical 
Journal,"  have  caused  your  name  to  be  viewed  by  our  jurists  with  great 
admiration  and  regard.  According  to  the  direction  of  my  friend,  Dr.  Lieber, 
I  enclosed  your  diploma  to  Messrs.  Perthes  &  Besser,  Hamburg.  I  hope  that 
there  will  be  no  miscarriage.  If  you  should  do  me  the  honor  to  write  to  me, 
I  should  be  glad  to  have  you  write  in  French.  I  hope  to  see  you  within  a 
year  at  Heidelberg,  as  I  propose  very  soon  to  visit  Germany,  and  feel  desirous 
to  bespeak  your  favorable  notice  and  instruction,  should  I  be  so  happy  as  to 
accomplish  my  proposed  journey.  If  I  can  be  of  service  to  you,  please  to 
command  me;  and  believe  me,  with  the  highest  consideration, 
Very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

Charles  Sumner. 


TO  DR.  FRANCIS  LIEBER,  COLUMBIA,   S.  C. 

Boston,  June  17,  1837. 
My  dear  Friend,  —  I  fear  much  that  I  shall  not  see  Europe  so  soon  as 
I  anticipated.  The  thought  of  going  abroad  makes  my  heart  leap,  and  the 
gloomy  fear  that  I  must  stay  at  home  awhile  longer  plunges  me  in  disap- 
pointment. But,  as  you  have  said,  these  pinching  times  pinch  me  and  have 
caused  me  to  postpone  my  departure.  If  I  can  possibly  administer  on  my 
affairs,  and  be  able  to  command  the  requisite  funds,  I  shall  leave  in  the  fall. 
Then  will  my  joy  be  great.  The  thought  of  Europe  fills  me  with  the  most 
tumultuous  emotions ;  there,  it  seems,  my  heart  is  garnered  up.  I  feel,  when 
I  commune  with  myself  about  it,  as  when  dwelling  on  the  countenance  and 
voice  of  a  lovely  girl.  I  am  in  love  with  Europa.  May  I  have  the  success  of 
Jove  without  his  transformation !  I  shall  rely  upon  your  friendly  counsels 
before  I  depart  and  during  my  absence,  and  shall  be  anxious  to  serve  you  at 
all  seasons  and  in  all  places.  The  moment  I  see  my  way  clear  to  the  exact 
time  of  departure,  I  shall  inform  you,  and  hope  that  we  may  meet  before 
I  go.  How  we  would  talk  of  Europe  and  its  intellectual  resources  and  excite- 
ments !  An  hour  with  you  would  stimulate  my  mind  on  this  favorite  theme 
like  the  noises  of  the  ancient  Corybantes. 

June  19. 
Captain  Marry  at,  of  novel-writing  memory,  is  in  Boston,  and  has  been  for 
some  days ;  but  I  think  is  very  little  noticed.  .  .  .  Miss  Martineau's  book  will 
be  published  in  a  few  days,  and  will  make  the  feathers  fly.  From  the  extracts 
published  in  the  papers,  her  work  will  be  of  a  most  decided  character,  mow- 
ing to  the  right  and  left  with  keenness  and  effect.  I  hope  her  castigation 
will  do  good.  Already  calumny  has  beset  her  among  us,  and  she  is  classed 
with  Hall  and  Trollope.  Her  comments  on  slavery  are  said  to  be  scorching. 
I  do  not  regret  this.     I  hope  that  through  her  some  truths  may  reach  the 


^t.  23-26.]  ADVICE  TO  DR.   LIEBER.  191 

South.  Perhaps  her  book  may  be  burned  by  the  hangman;  certainly  it  will 
be  placed  on  the  Index  Expurgatorius  of  the  South.  I  wonder  that  your  free 
spirit  can  endure  the  bondage  to  which  opinion  at  the  South  must  subject 
you,  tying  your  tongue  and  taming  all  your  expressions.  I  ask  pardon  for 
this  language,  for  perhaps  I  mistake  your  views  and  situation. 

You  speak  of  studying  law.  I  should  hesitate  long  before  encouraging 
you  in  such  a  step.  Why  study  law?  For  money?  Considering  your  age 
and  country  of  birth,  is  it  not  doubtful  whether  you  could  reap  more  from  it 
than  from  your  present  exertions?  For  office?  There  is  no  political  office 
in  the  United  States  worth  your  acceptance.  I  say  in  all  sincerity  that  I 
would  take  your  literary  reputation  in  preference  to  any  office  in  my  country. 
For  reputation?  In  my  view,  the  reputation  of  no  lawyer  is  equal  to  yours. 
Then,  you  must  not  expose  yourself  to  the  imputation  of  fickleness,  of  chang- 
ing your  employment  for  ever,  and  of  being,  as  Dry  den  says  of  some  one, 
"  all  things  by  starts  and  nothing  long; "  or,  of  the  lines  of  Juvenal,  — 

Grammaticus,  rhetor,  geometres,  pictor,  aliptes, 
Augur,  schoenobates,  medicus,  magus :  omnia  novit.1 

Your  attainments  and  reputation  are  already  quite  encyclopaedic  ;  but  such 
a  change  as  you  propose  would  excite  surprise.  Do  not  abandon  your  pres- 
ent vantage  ground  in  the  field  of  literature.  At  the  bar  you  would  be  for 
the  present  on  a  level  with  the  vast  herd.  You  would  be  obliged  to  push 
your  way  through  the  thick  and  serried  ranks  of  the  profession,  jealous  per- 
haps of  a  new  comer  with  such  a  reputation  as  yours.  In  literature  you  are 
on  your  native  heath,  and  your  name  is  MacGregor. 

Faithfully  yours,  C.  S. 


TO  GEORGE  S.  HILLARD,  PORTLAND,  MAINE.* 

4  Court  St.,  Saturday,  July,  1837. 
My  dear  George,  — Yours  came  to  hand  last  evening,  and  I  shall  write 
a  line  which  I  hope  you  will  get  on  Sunday.     All  things  are  calm  as  a  mir- 
ror.    I  sit,  like  Nicholas  Biddle  "of  a  summer  morning,"  in  the  shaded 
recess  of  an  office,  nor  am  I  disturbed  by  many  new  or  urgent  applications. 

The s  vex  me  with  daily  notes  and  requests  to  call  upon  them,  and 

some  little  affairs  —  trustees-answers,  &c.  —  consume  much  of  my  time. 
There  is  an  utter  dearth  of  all  event  in  our  circle.  The  news  from  Europe 
has  filled  all  ears,  and  people  talk  foolishly  about  the  Queen,  Victoria,  and 
anticipate  a  chivalric  court,  because  forsooth  there  is  a  youthful  maiden 
queen.  The  "Morning  Chronicle  "  is  in  black  lines,  and  all  the  papers  abound 
in  those  particulars  of  the  death  and  character  of  the  old  king,  and  of  the 
proclamation  of  the  girl,  which  you  know  are  so  greedily  devoured  by  English 
readers. 

1  Juvenal.    Sat.  m.  76,  77. 

2  Hillard  was  then  passing  a  vacation  in  Maine. 


192  MEMOIR  OF  CHARLES    SUMNER.  [1834-37. 

Grand  1  is  in  Boston,  fresh  from  England.  I  see  him  every  day  at  the 
Tremont  House.  He  is  very  able  and  bold.  I  am  quite  struck  with  his  con- 
versation. He  talks  sledge-hammers.  He  wishes  to  learn  law  of  me,  and 
offers  me  two  hours  of  his  day  to  read  and  talk  German  and  French  for  one 
of  mine  on  law. 

I  have  concluded  a  contract  with  Little  &  Co.  for  my  Reports,  and  they 
will  commence  printing  on  Monday.  I  shall  drive  the  press  like  a  fiery  horse, 
and  will  be  in  England  at  the  next  election  of  members  of  parliament,  which 
will  be  the  most  powerfully  contested  one  which  ever  took  place.  I  have 
nearly  determined  to  make  for  England  first,  for  reasons  which  I  will  explain 
when  we  meet.  Cleveland  was  in  the  office  this  forenoon.  It  was  my  first 
sight  of  him  for  days.  He  is  toying  in  the  shades  of  Pine  Bank,  and  sends 
his  love  to  you. 

Yours  ever,  Chas.  S. 

My  love  to  Longfellow,  and  kindest  recollections  to  Chas.  Daveis.  Felton 
thinks  himself  better. 


TO  CHARLES  S.  DAVEIS. 

4  Court  St.,  Boston,  Aug.  4,  1837. 
My  dear  Mr.  Daveis,  —  I  think  a  draft  by  one  citizen  of  Massachusetts 
upon  another  citizen  of  Massachusetts,  payable  in  another  State,  is  clearly  a 
foreign  bill  of  exchange.2  .  .  . 

My  second  volume  [Sumner's  Reports]  is  now  in  press,  and  I  am  driving 
it  with  the  speed  of  the  Wild  Huntsman,  hoping  to  get  it  out  in  October;  and 
then  "  I'm  on  the  sea,"  &c.  The  visions  of  boyhood  and  of  the  lengthened 
shadows  of  youth  and  manhood  will  then  be  realized,  and  I  shall  see  what 
has  so  often  filled  my  mind  and  imagination.  I  wish  your  advice  very  much 
about  my  journey,  and  I  shall  rely  very  much  upon  your  kind  introductions. 
Before  I  go,  I  intend  to  visit  Portland,  in  order  to  talk  over  the  whole  route, 
its  objects  and  advantages.  My  journey  will  not  be  peculiarly  legal.  I 
shall  aim  to  see  society  in  all  its  forms  which  are  accessible  to  me ;  to  see 
men  of  all  characters;  to  observe  institutions  and  laws;  to  go  circuits  and 
attend  terms  and  parliaments ;  and  then  come  home  and  be  happy.  .  .  . 
Believe  me  as  ever  most  faithfully  yours, 

Chas.  Sumner. 


TO  HENRY  W.  LONGFELLOW,   PORTLANDS 

4  Court  St.,  Aug.  15,  1837. 
My  dear  Longfellow,  — ...  Felton  is  very  much  better  than  when  you 
left ;  so  that  to-day  he  dined  with  me  at  the  Tremont.     A  good  sign.     Poor 

1  Francis  J.  Grund. 

2  The  letter  refers  to  the  authorities  on  the  question,  and  states  the  opinion  of  Judge 
Story  as  given  in  conversation. 

3  Professor  Longfellow  was  then  visiting  his  father  at  Portland. 


JEt.  23-26.]  NEPOTISM.  193 

fellow !  He  has  been  obliged  to  endure  blisters  which  are  as  bad  as  tooth- 
pulling  or  usury.  And  yet  he  is  as  sociable,  as  pleasant,  and  full  of  bonhomie 
as  ever.  He  has  sat  patiently  in  his  room  during  the  warmest  and  most  sul- 
try days,  with  all  his  windows  closed,  and  with  all  the  martyrdom  of  St. 
Lawrence  on  his  gridiron. 

I  was  glad  to  hear  that  you  had  so  pleasant  a  time  in  the  White  Moun- 
tains. Hillard  returned  full  of  what  he  had  seen  or  heard,  quorum  pars  magna 
fuisti.  Choate  and  Howe  both  joined  in  expressions.  Dr.  Lieber  is  in  the  city 
now,  and  is  at  our  office  a  great  deal,  and  is  very  interesting  from  the  ful- 
ness and  invention  of  his  mind.  He  has  inquired  after  you.  I  suppose  we 
shall  see  you  soon,  returned  to  occupy  your  new  rooms.1 
Yours  ever  faithfully, 

Charles  Sumner. 


TO  DR.  FRANCIS  LIEBER. 

Boston,  Sept.  11,  1837. 

My  dear  Lieber, — On  Nepotism,  see  a  capital  letter  of  General  Wash- 
ington, written  in  1797,  to  John  Adams.2  The  latter  had  solicited  the  advice 
of  Washington  with  regard  to  a  promotion  of  his  son,  J.  Q.  A.,  in  the  diplo- 
matic line.  Washington  advises  it,  on  the  ground  that  he  has  already  been 
appointed  by  government ;  and  it  is  now  proposed  only  to  advance  him  an- 
other step.  At  the  same  time,  he  commends  J.  Q.  A.  in  a  way  that  does  my 
heart  good.  Washington,  in  this  letter,  alludes  to  his  own  conduct  on  these 
subjects.  Perhaps  you  have  seen  the  letter.  I  do  not  know  that  it  is  pre- 
served by  Sparks.  It  probably  is ;  at  any  rate,  it  is  to  be  found  in  the  re- 
nowned Cunningham  correspondence,  the  publication  of  which  is  the  most 
barefaced  violation  of  confidence  that  I  know  of. 

See  the  last  number  of  the  "  London  and  Westminster  Review  "  for  arti- 
cles on  Taylor's  "Statesman8"  and  Fonblanque's  "  England  under  Seven 
Administrations,"  4  both  of  which  touch  upon  some  of  your  topics. 

Don't  publish  by  subscription ; 6  don't  make  yourself  a  general  beggar:  it 
is  enough  to  petition  booksellers;  do  not  offer  prayers  to  the  many-headed 
public  for  the  sake  of  a  paltry  subscription.  It  is  undignified,  and  betrays  a 
want  of  confidence  in  your  work.     Study,  ponder,  and  polish  your  work; 

1  Prof.  Longfellow  began  in  Sept.,  1837,  to  occupy  rooms  at  the  Craigie  House,  "Wash- 
ington's headquarters,  —  an  estate  which  he  afterwards  purchased,  and  where  he  has  since 
resided. 

2  Works  of  John  Adams, Vol.VIII.  p.  530.  Sparks's  "  Life  and  Writings  of  George  Wash- 
ington," Vol.  XI.  p.  188.  Lieber  had  applied  to  Sumner  by  letter.  Sept.  2, 1835,-while  writing 
his  "Political  Ethics,"  for  information  relative  to  the  appointment  of  Bushrod  Washington 
to  an  office.  Ante,  p.  173.  Lieber's  "Political  Ethics"  (1875),  Vol.  II.  pp.  30-34. 
Sumner,  in  a  speech  in  the  Senate,  May  31,  1872,  treated  at  length  of  "Nepotism,"  with 
reference  to  the  administration  of  President  Grant,  drawing  historical  parallels.  He  dis- 
cussed it  briefly  in  a  speech  intended  to  be  delivered  in  Faneuil  Hall,  Sept.  3, 1872,  entitled, 
"  Greeley  or  Grant." 

8  April,  1837,  Vol.  XXVIII.  pp.  1-32. 

<  Idem,  pp  65-98.  5  Political  Ethics. 

vol.  i.  13 


194  MEMOIK  OF   CHAIILES   SUMNER.  [1834-37. 

then  select  a  publisher  and  commit  it  to  the  world.  If  these  times  will  not 
accept  it,  posterity  will,  —  which  is  an  infinity.  Grotius  did  not  solicit  sub- 
scriptions; nor  Bacon,  nor  Story,  nor  Kent.  You  may  reply  that  you  will 
not  solicit  them,  but  the  bookseller  will,  —  that  is  a  distinction  without  a 
difference.  Every  time  your  paper  is  presented  for  a  signature,  the  person, 
while  reluctantly  signing  his  name,  will  mutter  some  querulous  tones,  and 
will  afterwards  console  himself  for  his  extravagance  by  the  remark  that  he 
did  it  to  get  rid  of  the  applicant.  Will  you  expose  yourself  to  such  shots? 
No!  Your  work  is  new,  elaborate,  important,  great.  Comport  yourself  with 
regard  to  it  as  becomes  the  author  of  such  a  work.  Pardon  this  warmth.  I 
may  be  wrong  in  judgment,  but  not  in  my  friendly  regard.  .  .  . 

Ever  yours,  C.  S. 


TO  CHARLES  S.  DAVEIS. 

4  Court  St.,  Boston,  Sept.  12,  1837. 

My  dear  Friend,  — ...  Of  Mr.  Ingersoll's 1  oration  I  have  heard  much, 
and  regret  that  he  passed  through  Boston  without  presenting  a  vision  to  my 
eyes.  When  in  Philadelphia,  some  years  ago,  he  was  very  kind  to  me,  and 
I  dined  at  his  house  in  a  large  and  splendid  company.  I  should,  therefore, 
take  great  pleasure  in  paying  my  respects  to  him. 

Whether  I  shall  be  able  to  visit  you,  on  Oct.  1,  I  am  uncertain.  Within 
a  short  time  of  that  date  I  shall  certainly  present  myself,  to  indulge  in  the 
luxury  of  a  full  day's  communion  on  Europe  and  the  great  scenes  which  I 
hope  to  look  on.  My  reports  are  about  two-thirds  printed,  but  will  probably 
be  through  the  press  about  that  time.  Some  professional  engagements  will 
detain  me,  I  fear,  beyond  Oct.  1.  If  I  could  ride  in  the  inside  of  a  stage- 
coach, I  would  certainly  go  down  with  the  judge;  but  as  it  makes  me  sick,  — 
very  sick,  —  it  would  be  a  mere  mockery  to  go  in  his  company,  or  afterwards 

in  yours.  .  .  . 

Affectionately  yours, 

Chas.  Sumner. 


TO  CHARLES  S.  DAVEIS. 

4  Court  St.,  Boston,  Sept.  28, 1837. 

My  dear  Friend,  —  I  send  you  a  hasty  scrawl  as  a  premonitory  symptom 
of  a  firm  determination  to  take  the  stage  on  Friday  with  the  judge,  or 
the  boat  on  Friday  night  for  Portland.  I  cannot  seduce  the  judge  to  encoun- 
ter the  exposure  to  sea-sickness,  confined  quarters,  and  a  prolonged  trip  by 
steamboat.  He  is  of  old  Cato's  mind,  who  never  regretted  but  one  thing, 
which  was  on  one  occasion  going  by  water  when  he  might  have  gone  by  land. 
But  the  horrid,  blinding  dust  will  suffocate  a  poor  fellow  like  myself,  who 
must  consort  the  whole  way  with  Jehu  on  his  box. 

1  Joseph  R.  Ingersoll's  Address  at  Bowdoin  College. 


Mr.  23-26.]  LETTER  TO  A   GERMAN  JURIST.  195 

Mr.  Ingersoll  spent  about  a  week  here,  during  which  I  was  with  him  good 
portions  of  each  day.  We  talked  of  you,  and  he  thought  that  seeing  you  was 
seeing  a  large  part  of  Maine.  Yours  as  ever, 

Chas.  S. 

TO  PROFESSOR  MITTERMAIER. 
Boston   (United   States   of    America),  Not.  20,  1837. 

My  dear  Sir,  —  I  feel  grateful  for  your  kind  letter  of  14th  June  last, 
and  for  the  interest  which  you  have  expressed  in  the  jurisprudence  of  my 
country.  Your  promise  to  furnish  an  article  for  the  ' '  American  Jurist ' '  has 
given  me  and  my  collaborateurs  the  greatest  pleasure.  We  hope  to  receive  it 
very  soon.  The  subject  of  codification  is  deeply  interesting  to  us  at  this 
moment.  Commissioners  in  Massachusetts  are  now  engaged  in  reducing  to 
a  code  our  criminal  law.  I  think  it  will  take  them  upwards  of  two  years  to 
accomplish  this;  and  then  the  Legislature  may  reject  their  labors,  as  that 
of  Louisiana  did  the  code  of  Livingston.1  While  the  attention  of  the  bar  and 
the  public  is  directed  to  this  subject,  an  article  from  a  person  so  competent 
and  distinguished  as  you  are  would  be  read  with  the  greatest  interest.  Let 
me  ask  you  to  persevere  in  your  promise.  My  associates  and  myself  will  be 
glad  to  send  in  return  some  contribution  to  your  very  valuable  journal,  on 
such  subject  as  you  would  be  pleased  to  have  discussed.  The  exchange  would, 
indeed,  be  unequal;  like  Diomed,  we  should  give  iron  for  gold. 

I  have  directed  my  bookseller  to  send  to  you,  through  Perthes  &  Besser, 
Hamburg,  my  "Reports  of  the  Decisions  of  Mr.  Justice  Story,"  in  two 
volumes;  also  a  work  on  "  Admiralty  Practice,"  which  was  edited  and  partly 
prepared  by  me.  Allow  me  to  refer  you  to  the  preface  of  the  latter  work  as 
indicating  my  agency  in  it.  The  forms  of  proceedings,  consisting  of  libels 
and  answers,  which  I  prepared,  have  been  adopted  in  the  practice  of  the 
admiralty  courts  of  the  United  States,  so  far  as  my  knowledge  extends.  I 
ask  you  to  receive  the  foregoing  works  as  a  mark  of  my  high  regard.  I  have 
also  directed  to  be  sent,  through  the  same  channel,  the  last  three  numbers 
of  the  "  American  Jurist,"  which  I  fear  you  have  not  received. 

I  am  now  about  to  embark  for  Europe,  partly  with  a  view  of  acquainting 
myself  with  the  jurisprudence  of  its  different  countries,  and  promise  myself 
the  pleasure  of  making  your  personal  acquaintance  at  Heidelberg,  where  I 
hope  to  pass  some  time.  I  shall  probably  be  in  Paris  during  the  months  of 
January,  February,  and  March,  and  shall  then  pass  over  to  England;  after 
which  I  shall  visit  Germany.  My  associate,  L.  S.  Cushing,  will  have  the 
chief  management  of  the  "American  Jurist"  during  my  absence;  and  he 
joins  me  in  expressing  an  earnest  desire  that  you  would  furnish  your  promised 
article. 

I  have  the  honor  to  be,  with  great  regard, 

Your  most  obedient,  faithful  servant, 

Charles  Sumner. 

l  The  "Report  of  the  Penal  Code  of  Massachusetts  "  was  not  made  till  1844;  it  waa 
then  referred  to  the  next  legislature,  and  no  further  action  taken. 


196  MEMOIR  OF   CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1837. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

GOING  TO  EUROPE.  — DECEMBER,  1837.— AGE,  26. 

I  j^ROM  his  boyhood  Sumner  had  longed  to  visit  Europe,  and 
-*-  with  his  reading  of  history  this  desire  grew  into  a  passion. 
The  want  of  the  necessary  funds  compelled  him  to  postpone  its 
gratification  until  he  had  in  part  earned  them,  and  won  friends 
who  would  advance  the  rest.  A  circumstance  gleaned  from  the 
letters  of  Browne  and  Hopkinson,  which  occurred  during  his  last 
year  in  the  Law  School,  is  significant  of  his  earnestness  in  this 
direction.  He  nearly  completed,  at  that  time,  a  negotiation  by 
which  a  gentleman  was  to  defray  his  expenses  for  a  year's  trav- 
elling abroad,  in  consideration  of  certain  personal  services  to  be 
rendered  at  home.  Its  details  are  not  preserved ;  but  the  two 
classmates,  who  did  not  hear  of  the  proposed  arrangement  until 
it  had  fallen  through,  upbraided  him  in  a  friendly  way  for 
proposing  to  assume  an  obligation  which  they  thought  would 
compromise  his  personal  independence.  This  strong  desire, 
increasing  with  his  studies,  became  a  definite  purpose  at  the 
beginning  of  1837.  He  fixed  first  upon  October  in  that  year 
as  the  time  of  sailing;  but  a  pressure  of  engagements  com- 
pelled him  to  postpone  it  for  two  months. 

His  purpose  differed  from  that  of  an  ordinary  tourist,  who 
seeks  only  relaxation  from  business,  relief  from  the  ennui  of  an 
idle  life,  and  a  view,  grateful  to  the  eye,  of  scenery,  costumes, 
i galleries,  spectacles.  He  desired  to  see  society  in  all  its  forms  ; 
to  converse  with  men  of  all  characters  and  representatives  of  all 
professions ;  to  study  institutions  and  laws,  and  to  acquaint  him- 
self with  courts  and  parliaments.1     He  had  read  many  books, 

md  wished  to  see  the  men  who  wrote  them,  and  the  men 
whose  deeds  they  commemorated.  The  poem,  the  speech,  the 
history,  the  judicial  opinion,  and  the  treatise  would,  he  felt, 

1  See  letter  to  Mr.  Daveis  of  Aug.  4, 1837,  ante,  p.  192. 


Mi.  26.]  THE  PURPOSE  OF  HIS  TRAVELS  197 

after  such  communion,  charm  with  a  new  interest  or  light  up 
with  a  clearer  intelligence.  He  had  read  foreign  law,  and  he 
aspired  to  comprehend  fully  its  doctrines  and  spirit  by  attend- 
ing its  schools  and  observing  its  administration,  with  the  view  of 
using  such  knowledge  in  efforts  to  improve  our  own.  To  his 
cherished  ideal,  —  the  jurist,  whether  serving  as  lawyer,  judge, 
or  teacher,  —  he  had  been  loyal  as  well  in  practice  as  when  a 
student;  and  it  was  his  purpose,  after  the  further  studies  and 
wider  observations  abroad  which  he  deemed  essential  to  its  at- 
tainment, to  return  to  his  profession  better  equipped  for  all  its 
duties.  He  craved  the  faculty  of  reading  and  speaking  foreign 
languages,  and  sought  the  opportunity  of  learning  them,  not 
merely  from  the  drill  of  professional  teachers,  but  as  well  from 
the  lips  of  those  whose  words,  written  or  spoken,  had  taught  / 
mankind. 

He  had  not  striven  for  social  consideration  at  home,  and  had 
no  expectation  of  that  which  awaited  him  abroad.  But  for  a 
tour  of  the  kind  which  he  had  in  mind  letters  of  introduction 
were  essential;  and  like  Milton,  two  centuries  before,  he  had 
friends  to  supply  them  who  were  not  less  kindly  than  those  now 
best  remembered  for  their  good  offices  to  the  pilgrim  poet. 

Mr.  Daveis  commended  him  to  Earl  Fitzwilliam  and  Lord 
Jeffrey,  both  having  volunteered  to  receive  any  of  his  friends 
whom  he  might  be  pleased  to  introduce  to  them,  and  also  to 
Lord  Denman  and  others,  with  whom  he  was  on  less  familiar 
terms.  Mr.  Rand  gave  him  letters  to  Lord  Denman,  Baron 
Parke,  and  Solicitor-General  Rolfe ;  Judge  Story  to  Mr.  Justice 
Vaughan  and  John  Stuart  Wortley ;  John  Neal  to  Mrs.  Sarah 
Austin ;  Washington  Allston  to  Wordsworth ;  Ralph  Waldo 
Emerson  to  Carlyle;  Professor  Parker  Cleaveland,  of  Bowdoin 
College,  to  Sir  David  Brewster;  Dr.  Channing  to  the  Baron 
de  G^rando.  Dr.  Lieber  did  his  utmost  to  make  his  journey 
agreeable  at  the  time  and  permanently  improving,  warmly  cer- 
tifying of  his  character  and  acquisitions  to  continental  jurists 
and  8avan8,  —  notably  Mittermaier  and  the  younger  Thibaut, 
as  well  as  to  his  English  friends.  Such  letters  are  keys  useful 
for  opening  doors ;  but  there,  as  many  by  experience  know,  their 
service  ends ;  after  that,  he  who  bears  them  must,  by  his  man- 
ners and  gifts,  vindicate  his  title  to  continued  hospitality. 

In  his  letter  to  Earl  Fitzwilliam,  Mr.  Daveis,  after  referring 
to  Sumner's  professional  learning,  said :  — 


198  MEMOIR  OF    CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1837. 

"  1  cannot,  of  course,  be  understood  to  exhibit  these  titles  to  your  lord- 
ship, except  as  marks  of  those  merits  by  which  he  is  distinguished  in  the  esti- 
mation of  those  who  have  the  best  opportunity  of  appreciating  his  personal 
and  intellectual  qualities.  But  what  they  especially  prize  and  cherish  in  his 
character,  is  that  ardor  and  enthusiasm  in  whatever  is  connected  with  the 
learning  of  his  profession  and  the  elevation  of  its  office,  which  leads  him  to 
aspire  to  an  acquaintance  with  all  that  is  ennobling  in  itself  or  congenial  to 
it  in  excellence.  His  studies  and  pursuits  will  carry  him  to  the  Continent, 
and  cause  him  to  pass  some  portion  of  his  time  in  Germany,  where  there  is 
so  much  to  attract  those  who  seek  the  highest  intellectual  cultivation." 

Dr.  Lieber,  who  joined  heartily  in  Sumner's  plans,  gave  him 
elaborate  advice,  specifying  in  detail  points  to  be  regarded,  which 
were,  being  here  abbreviated,  as  follows :  — 

"1.  Plan  your  journey.  2.  Spend  money  carefully.  3.  Preserve  news- 
papers, hand-bills,  &c.  4.  Concentrate  your  attention  for  lasting  impressions. 
5.  Take  views  —  as  of  Paris  from  Montmartre  —  from  elevated  places,  stee- 
ples, hills,  &c.  6.  Keep  steadily  a  journal;  let  it  be  the  carte  of  the  day. 
Never  think  that  an  impression  is  too  vivid  to  be  forgotten.  Believe  me,  time 
is  more  powerful  than  senses  or  memory.  7.  See  every  thing,  including 
feasts,  fairs,  theatres.  8.  Eat  the  dishes  of  the  country.  9.  Dress  well, 
being  specially  careful  as  to  linen.  10.  Don't  give  introductions  easily. 
11.  Draw  diagrams  of  courts,  buildings,  &c.  12.  Keep  little  books  for 
addresses.  13.  Write  down  first  impressions  of  men  and  countries.  14.  Note 
large  and  noble  fabrics.  15.  See  the  Vatican  by  torchlight.  16.  [Names  of 
various  eminent  persons  in  France,  Germany,  and  other  countries  to  be  seen; 
including  Mittermaier,  the  Thibauts,  and  Bunsen,  —  '  the  last  well  worth 
knowing,  and  one  of  the  best  antiquarians  in  Rome.']  " 

He  also  urged  Sumner  to  keep  in  mind  during  his  absence  a 
work  of  a  forensic  character  {iter  forense),  treating  of  courts, 
parliaments,  popular  meetings,  with  descriptions,  incidents,  and 
anecdotes. 

With  the  exception  of  Dr.  Lieber  and  Mr.  Daveis,  Sumner's 
friends  did  not  encourage  his  proposed  enterprise.1  Hillard, 
however,  who  knew  how  much  his  heart  was  in  it,  felt  that  he 
would  be  unhappy  if  defeated  in  his  purpose,  and  bade  him  God- 
speed. Judge  Story  and  Professor  Greenleaf  feared  —  an  appre- 
hension well  founded  —  that  the  foreign  experiences  he  counted 
upon  would  wean  him  from  his  profession.  President  Quincy, 
in  a  parting  interview,  touched  his  sensitiveness  by  telling  him 
rather  bluntly  that  all  that  Europe  would  do  for  him  would  be 

i  He  recalled,  in  a  letter  to  Hillard  of  Dec.  11,  1838,  that  he  had  undertaken  his  plan  of 
travel  "contrary  to  the  advice  of  dear  friends." 


JEt.  26.]  DOUBTS   OF  FRIENDS.  199 

to  spoil  him,  sending  him  home  with  a  mustache  and  cane,  —  a 
remark  meant  in  kindness,  but,  with  Sumner's  reverent  regard 
for  the  President,  disturbing  him  for  months  afterwards,  when- 
ever his  memory  recurred  to  his  vacant  law-office.1 
Mrs.  Waterston  writes :  — 

"  I  perfectly  remember  Sumner's  deciding  to  go  to  Europe,  and  that  my 
father  opposed  it.  He  feared  '  Sumner  would  be  spoiled. '  I  do  not  recall 
what  Judge  Story's  opinion  was;  but  Sumner  went,  and  was  not  'spoiled.' 
I  remember  his  last  visit  to  us  previous  to  his  departure,  and  his  face  as  he 
took  leave  of  my  mother  and  the  President  (as  he  always  called  him),  — his 
earnest  face,  partly  bright  with  expectation,  partly  grave  with  regret, 
especially  regret  at  going  against  the  President's  approval." 

Sumner's  professional  savings  —  and  he  had  no  other  resource 
except  borrowing  —  were  quite  inadequate  to  meet  the  expense 
of  his  journey.  He  was  to  spend  during  his  absence  five  thou- 
sand dollars,  or  nearly  that  sum,  of  which  he  had  laid  aside  from 
his  earnings  hardly  more  than  a  third.  Three  friends  —  Judge 
Story,  Richard  Fletcher,  and  Samuel  Lawrence 2  —  generously 
proffered  loans  of  one  thousand  dollars  each,  which  he  accepted. 
They  were  repaid,  some  time  after  his  return,  chiefly,  as  is  sup- 
posed, by  his  mother  from  the  family  estate. 

The  journey  to  Europe  was  not  then  as  now  a  rapid  and  even 
cheap  excursion,  which  every  year  is  taken  by  a  horde  of  tourists. 
It  was  confined  chiefly  to  merchants  who  had  foreign  connections 
in  their  business,  scholars  bound  for  a  German  university  to 
complete  their  studies  before  entering  on  a  professorship,  and 
to  sons  of  wealthy  parents,  who,  having  finished  an  academic 
course,  began  a  life  of  elegant  leisure  with  a  foreign  tour.  No 
steamer,  carrying  passengers,  had  as  yet  crossed  the  Atlantic. 
A  young  man  who  went  abroad  at  such  a  period,  with  narrow 
means,  with  a  profession  which  he  had  served  too  briefly  to  retain 
a  hold  on  clients  during  his  absence,  and  against  the  counsels  of 
friends,  was  indeed  stirred  by  no  common  aspiration. 

Early  in  November  he  made  a  farewell  visit  of  a  day  to  his 
valued  friend,  Mr.  Daveis,  at  Portland ;  taking  the  boat  on  the 
evening  of  Tuesday,  the  seventh,  and  leaving  that  city  on  his 
return  the  next  evening.    He  dined,  while  in  Portland,  with  Mr. 

1  The  President's  remark  is  referred  to  in  Sumner's  letter  to  Hillard  of  Jan.  30,  1833. 

2  Mr.  Lawrence,  —  brother  of  Abbott  Lawrence,  who  was  at  one  time  Minister  to  England, 
—  is  now  a  resident  of  Mockbridge,  Mass. 


200  MEMOIR  OF  CHARLES   SUMNER.  1 1837. 

Daveis,  meeting  at  the  dinner  John  Neal,1  and  later  in  the  after- 
noon Stephen  Longfellow,  the  father  of  the  poet. 

After  leave-takings  with  his  teachers,  Story  and  Greenleaf,  and 
President  Quincy,  at  Cambridge,  his  family  at  home,  his  intimate 
friends,  and  among  these,  last  of  all,  Hillard,2  —  one  of  the  kind- 
est and  most  devoted  that  ever  a  man  had,  —  he  left  Boston  late 
in  November,  making  before  he  sailed  a  quick  visit  to  Washing- 
ton, where  he  obtained  his  passport  and  was  made  bearer  of 
despatches,  —  an  appointment  which  then  brought  some  advan- 
tages to  a  traveller.  On  the  way  he  stopped  at  Burlington, 
N.  J.,  to  bid  good-by  to  a  friend,  —  a  lady  recently  betrothed  to 
Cleveland,  one  of  the  "Five,"  —  tarried  a  day  in  Philadelphia 
where  he  dined  with  Mr.  Peters  and  spent  the  evening  with  Mr. 
Ingersoll,  and  passed  a  few  hours  in  Baltimore  with  reference  to 
some  promised  letters  of  introduction. 

During  his  preparations  for  departure,  and  when  about  to 
embark,  he  received  many  letters  from  friends,  expressing  deep 
interest  in  his  welfare,  and  full  of  benedictions. 

Dr.  Lieber,  who  addressed  him  as  "  Young  man  on  the  thresh- 
old of  a  great  life,"  wrote  from  Columbia,  S.  C,  Oct.  7,  — 

"  How  I  would  enjoy  an  intense,  deep,  and  vast  life  could  I  accompany 
you,  and  learn,  admire,  adore  with  you,  and  initiate  you  in  the  great  temple 
of  the  beautiful  and  good !  " 

And  again,  Oct.  17  :  — 

"  Good-by,  my  dear  friend.  May  God  protect  you  on  the  deep  and  on  the 
main !  May  he  vouchsafe  you  good  health,  acute  senses,  a  cheerful  mind  to 
observe  and  receive  every  thing  that  comes  in  your  way!  Keep  an  affection- 
ate heart  for  your  friends,  and  do  not  allow  yourself  to  be  torn  every  way  by 
the  many  thousand  different  and  interesting  things.  Keep  steady  and  within 
bounds.     I  bless  you  as  never  friend  blessed  his  friend." 

Mr.  Daveis  wrote,  Aug.  8  :  — 

"  There  will  be  a  good  many  true  hearts  that  will  set  up  the  Horatian 
strains  over  the  ship  that  takes  yon  in  trust.  I  shall  take  pride  and  pleasure 
in  giving  you  the  best  letters  I  can;  and,  besides  the  one  to  Lord  Jeffrey, 

1  Mr.  Neal  was  through  life  a  busy  writer  of  poetry  and  prose.  He  was  born  Oct.  25, 
1703,  and  died  June  20.  1876.  In  early  life,  while  in  Europe,  he  lived  for  a  time  with  Jeremy 
Bentham,  an  association  which  brought  him  into  relations  with  the  Benthamites,  particu- 
larly the  Austins.  Mr.  Neal,  not  long  before  his  death,  thus  wrote  with  reference  to  Sum- 
ner's visit:  ''  He  appeared  with  a  right  royal  presence,  his  countenance  characterized  by  a 
genuine  warmth  and  great  readiness ;  in  a  word,  it  was  that  of  a  highly  bred,  well-informed 
gentleman  of  a  somewhat  older  school  than  I  was  in  the  way  of  meeting." 

2  Hillard  gave  him  a portemonnaie  with  the  inscription,  "Coelum,  non  animum  mutant, 
qui  trans  mare  currunt." 


Mt.  26.]  FAREWELLS.  201 

one  or  two  others  at  least.  But  the  long  and  the  short  of  it  is  that  you 
-will  be  your  best  letter  yourself.  You  are  quite  wild  with  your  anticipations, 
and  it  is  enough  to  make  anybody  else  so  to  read  them." 

And  again,  Nov.  2 :  — 

"And  now,  my  dear  friend,  my  heart  goes  with  you.  I  could  say,  Ventorum- 
que  regat  pater,  Obstrictis  aliis ;  x  but  the  right  winds  and  auspices  and  influ- 
ences with  my  most  fervent  wishes  will  certainly  follow  you  in  all  your 
wanderings.  Write  to  me  soon  after  you  arrive  at  Paris ;  and  especially  and 
fully  from  England,  where  our  admiration  and  affections  fully  meet.  I  have 
commended  you  very  cordially  to  Ticknor,  and  I  authorize  you  to  draw  upon 
him  in  my  name  to  an  unlimited  extent. 

"  And  now  again,  Farewell!  Vive  et  Vale!  Go,  and  God  speed  you!  May 
you  live  to  be  an  honor  and  blessing  to  your  Mends  and  society  even  more 
than  you  are  now,  and  more  than  realize  all  our  fondest  wishes  and  anticipa- 
tions.    And  so,  Farewell!    Always  affectionately  and  faithfully  yours." 

Dr.  Channing  wrote  :  — 

'*  I  need  not  speak  to  you  of  the  usual  perils  of  travelling.  Local  preju- 
dice and  illiberal  notions  are  worn  off;  but  there  is  danger  of  parting  too 
with  what  is  essentially,  immutably  good  and  true." 

Prof.  Andrews  Norton,  wrote,  Nov.  6  :  — 

"  You  are,  I  trust,  about  to  enjoy  much  and  to  learn  much  in  Europe,  to 
lay  up  for  life  a  treasure  of  intellectual  improvement  and  agreeable  recol- 
lections. You  carry  with  you  the  cordial  good  wishes  of  Mrs.  Norton  and 
myself.  May  God  bless  you,  and  make  your  life  as  honorable  and  useful  as 
you  now  purpose  it  shall  be !  " 

Samuel  Lawrence  wrote,  Dec.  6  :  — 

"And  now,  my  dear  friend,  let  me  say  you  have  many,  many  ardent 
friends  here  who  are  sincerely  attached  to  you,  and  who  will  look  forward  with 
intense  interest  to  your  return  home.  In  the  mean  time  your  letters  will  be 
looked  for  with  great  interest.  Mrs.  L.  begs  me  to  say  your  note  (parting) 
she  received,  and  will  retain  near  her  till  we  all  meet.  She  regards  you  as  a 
brother,  as  does  your  friend." 

Judge  Story  wrote  from  Cambridge,  Dec.  2 :  — 
11  We  miss  you  exceedingly,  for  we  were  accustomed  to  derive  a  great  deal 
of  comfort  from  your  cheering  presence.  And  already  we  begin  to  mourn 
over  you  as  one  lost  for  the  present,  —  a  sort  of  banished  friend,  whom  we  can 
ill  spare  at  any  time,  and  least  of  all  just  now.  Depend  upon  it,  the  waves  of 
the  Atlantic,  as  they  waft  you  to  France  and  England,  will  carry  our  warmest, 
truest  prayers,  constant  and  fervid,  for  blessings  on  you.  But  no  more  of 
this,  or  I  shall  relapse  into  sober  sadness.  ...  I  saw  Hillard  yesterday.     He 

1  Horace,  I.  Ode  iii.  3. 


202  MEMOIK   OF   CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1837. 

seemed  quite  a  Jone  man,  and  I  am  sure  misses  you  exceedingly.  Greenleaf 
is  very  well,  and  he  and  I  talk  you  over  constantly.  .  .  .  Farewell,  my  dear 
sir!  May  God  preserve  and  bless  you,  wherever  you  are,  on  the  restless  ocean 
or  the  solid  land!    Believe  me  most  truly  and  affectionately  your  friend. 

Professor  Greenleaf  wrote,  Jan.  28,  1838  :  — 

"  And  so,  my  dear  friend,  you  are  gone.  We  had  so  often  made  this 
enterprise  of  yours  the  subject  of  mirth,  that  I  never  regarded  it  real  till  the 
morning  when  I  found  your  good  father  in  the  very  article  of  leave-taking. 
The  next  day,  as  usual,  I  ran  upstairs  and  rushed  into  your  room  with  '  How 
fare  ye?  '  on  my  tongue;  but  alas,  the  executor  and  the  appraisers  were  there; 
your  writing  table  was  dissected,  and  the  disjecta  membra  scattered  on  the 
floor,  ready  to  be  taken  into  the  sanctum  of  Mr.  Hillard,  which  they  now 
adorn. 

"  One  morn  I  miss'd  him  at  the  customed  court  {scil.  Law  Library), 
Along  the  (side)  walk,  and  near  his  fav'rite  tree; 
Another  came,  —  nor  at  his  known  resort, 
Nor  at  the  Albion,  nor  the  Dane  was  he. 

"lam  almost  tempted  to  murder  the  rest  of  Gray's  *  Elegy,'  and  apply 
the  epitaph,  mutatis  mutandis. 

**  Thus  left  his  home  to  wander  o'er  the  earth 

A  youth,  to  fortune  and  to  fame  well  known: 
Fair  Science  frown' d  not  on  his  generous  birth, 

And  Jurisprudence  mark'd  him  for  her  own. 
Large  was  his  bounty  and  his  soul  sincere, 

Heaven  did  .  .  .  ccetera  desunt. 

"...  Here  am  I  at  the  end  of  my  paper,  without  saying  any  thing.  But 
this  is  not  composed  for  publication  among  the  correspondence  to  be  inter- 
larded in  your  biography;  nor  is  it  written  like  one  of  Charles  Lamb's  con- 
versations, by  '  punch  light,'  for  you  know  I  am  a  tee-totaler.  Wishing  you 
with  my  whole  heart  the  protecting  care  of  Heaven  during  this  pilgrimage, 
and  its  richest  blessings  for  ever,  yours  affectionately." 

Mrs.  Greenleaf  added  a  postscript :  — 

"  My  dear  Friend,  —  I  cannot  refrain  from  thanking  you  for  your  kind 
note,  though  it  rang  the  knell  of  your  departure.  We  entirely  reciprocate 
all  the  kind  regards  which  you  express.  We  only  wish  that  you  may  preserve 
inviolate  all  the  feelings  with  which  you  left  us,  and  that  your  cup  may  be 
filled  to  the  brim  with  untold  happiness.  It  will  be  a  long  time  ere  we  cease 
to  listen  for  your  wonted  footsteps,  and  to  turn  instinctively,  when  the  door 
of  our  parlor  opens,  to  see  you  enter.         Your  affectionate  friend." 

Cleveland  wrote  from  Philadelphia,  Jan.  5  :  — 

"  I  got  a  very  kind  letter  from  you  written  from  New  York  just  before  you 
sailed.  I  hope  that  you  got  a  very  kind  one  from  me  also,  written  about  the 
same  time.     If  you  did  not,  I  beg  you  to  consider  yourself  as  having  received 


JEt.  26.]  LAST  LETTERS  TO  FRIENDS.  203 

one,  which  will  do  just  as  well.  I  thought  much  of  you  after  you  sailed.  The 
winds  were  fair  and  fresh,  and  the  skies  were  bright,  and  the  prayers  and  bles- 
sings of  many  kind  hearts  went  with  you." 

Felton  wrote  to  Sumner's  father  a  few  weeks  later :  — 

"  You  judge  rightly  that  any  intelligence  of  Charles's  welfare  would  be 
most  acceptable  to  me,  and  I  congratulate  you  from  my  heart  on  his  safe 
arrival  in  France.  He  is  now  in  the  full  enjoyment  of  eager  and  enlight- 
ened curiosity  fully  gratified,  and  if  ever  a  young  man  merited  such  good 
fortune,  by  fine  talents  nobly  employed,  and  generous  feelings  unceasingly 
cherished,  that  man  is  Charles  Sumner.  He  has  long  been  very  dear  to  me ; 
and  no  one  of  his  numerous  friends  has  sympathized  more  deeply  in  his  hon- 
orable and  brilliant  career  than  I  have,  and  no  one  will  hear  of  his  success 
and  happiness  in  the  exciting  scenes  he  is  now  entering  upon  with  livelier 
pleasure  than  I  shall." 

Hillard  wrote  Dec.  6,  1837 :  — 

44  And  now,  my  dear  fellow,  Farewell.  May  God  bless  you,  and  restore  you 
to  us  with  all  your  anticipations  of  enjoyment  and  improvement  more  than 
realized !  May  he  be  to  you  a  pillar  of  fire  by  night  and  of  cloud  by  day,  and 
shield  you  from  the  perils  of  the  land  and  the  deep !  If  the  good  wishes  of 
loving  hearts  were  talismans  of  defence  and  protection,  you  would  be  well 
guarded  indeed;  for  no  one  ever  went  away  compassed  about  with  a  greater 
number.     Once  more,  God  bless  you,  and,  Farewell." 

At  New  York  he  passed  an  evening  with  Chancellor  Kent,  who 
gave  him  books  for  his  voyage  ;  and  had  pleasant  interviews  with. 
William  C.  Russell,1  his  classmate  John  O.  Sargent,  and  other 
friends. 

The  night  before  he  sailed,  and  early  the  next  morning,  he 
wrote  many  letters  to  relatives  and  friends,  some  of  them  cover- 
ing several  pages,  —  to  his  sister  Julia,  to  young  Frick,  a  law 
student  in  whose  progress  he  had  conceived  an  interest  while  the 
latter  was  an  undergraduate,  and  himself  an  instructor  in  the  Law 
School;  to  Mr.  Daveis,  Dr.  Lieber,  Professor  Greenleaf,  Long- 
fellow, Cleveland,  and  Hillard.  His  luggage  included  a  large 
number  of  books,  copies  of  the  "  Jurist,"  of  his  Reports,  and  of 
the  treatises  of  Judge  Story,  intended  for  presentation  by  him- 
self or  on  behalf  of  the  judge  to  English  lawyers  and  judges. 

1  Professor  Russell,  of  Cornell  University,  writes :  "  I  saw  him  when  on  his  way  to 
Europe ;  he  called  at  my  office  in  New  York,  handsomely  dressed, —  I  remember  the  effect 
of  his  fashionable  drab  overcoat,  —  erect,  easy,  conscious  of  his  strength ;  and  when  after  a 
short  visit  he  hurried  off  '  to  see,'  as  he  said,  '  my  man  of  business,'  I  felt  that  he  had  left 
childish  things  behind." 


204  MEMOIR  OF  CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1837. 


LETTERS. 


TO  DR.  FRANCIS  LIEBER,  COLUMBIA,  S.  C. 

Boston,  Oct  21, 1837. 

Your  last  letters  of  Oct.  7  and  Oct.  16  (last  by  express  mail)  have  quite 
touched  my  heart  by  their  fulness  and  warmth.     I  owe  you  a  deep  debt  — 

"  The  debt  immense  of  endless  gratitude  "  — 

for  your  thorough  interest  in  my  travels,  —  a  subject  where  my  whole  heart 
is.  And  yet  our  friendship  is  not  to  be  measured  by  any  reciprocity  of  obli- 
gation and  performance.  My  heart  throbs  for  you,  and  my  mind  thinks  of 
your  labors.  What  I  can  do  to  aid,  encourage,  and  cheer  you,  I  yearn  to  do. 
This  you  feel  persuaded  of,  I  know;  and  that  is  enough.  I  shall  remember 
you  at  every  step  of  my  journey,  and  in  your  dear  fatherland  shall  especially 
call  you  to  my  mind.  Oh,  that  I  spoke  your  tongue!  My  mortification  and 
humiliation  is  great  to  think  of  my  ignorance.  In  my  own  language  —  dear 
native  English !  —  I  am  sometimes  told  that  I  excel ;  and  how  I  shall  be 
humbled  by  my  inability  to  place  myself  en  rapport  with  the  minds  which  1 
shall  meet!  I  shall  write  you  in  German  from  Germany.  There,  on  the 
spot,  with  the  mighty  genius  of  your  language  hovering  over  me,  I  will 
master  it.  To  that  my  nights  and  days  must  be  devoted.  The  spirits  of 
Goethe  and  Richter  and  Luther  will  cry  in  my  ears,  '*  trumpet- tongued. "  I 
would  give  Golconda  or  Potosi  or  all  Mexico,  if  I  had  them,  for  your  German 
tongue. 

What  I  shall  write  abroad  I  know  not.  I  shall  keep  a  journal,  probably 
a  full  one,  and  shall  trust  to  circumstances  to  suggest  and  bring  out  a  sub- 
ject. I  shall  remember  your  suggestions ;  treasure  them  all.  All  your  requests 
I  shall  remember,  and  let  you  know  that  I  shall  not  forget  you.  Your  good 
advice  I  shall  ponder  well.1  Laertes  did  not  receive  better  instructions  from 
old  Polonius,  when  he  was  about  going  abroad,  than  you  have  given  me.  My 
heart  is  full  on  account  of  your  kindness. 

It  is  now  Oct.  21,  and  I  shall  be  more  than  a  week  longer  in  Boston.  I 
shall  leave  my  home  Nov.  1.  My  business  is  not  all  closed  yet,  and  I  some- 
times fear  that  I  may  lose  another  week ;  but  I  must  tear  away.  Then  for 
New  York,  Philadelphia,  Baltimore,  and  Washington.  You  will  hear  from 
me  often  before  I  go,  and  I  shall  send  longing,  lingering  looks  behind.  You 
will  hear  my  lamentations  across  the  sea,  and  also  my  rejoicings.  How  I 
shall  leap  with  joy  at  the  sight  of  Europe ;  how  I  shall  sigh  over  my  igno- 
rance ;  how  I  shall  long  for  some  of  my  American  friends  to  sympathize  with 

i  Ante,  p.  198. 


JEt.  26.]  DELAY  IN  LEAVING.  205 

the  deep  sympathy  of  friendship  and  a  common  admiration !    You  will  hear 
of  me  often. 

Good-by  for  a  few  days.  As  ever  yours, 

Chas.  Sumner. 


TO  DR.  FRANCIS  LIEBER. 

Boston,  Nov.  19,  1837. 

My  dear  Lieber,  —  "Yet  in  Boston!"  you  will  exclaim.  Ay;  per- 
verse fates  and  various  cares  have  conspired  to  keep  me  in  my  durance  for 
some  days  longer  than  I  anticipated.  In  two  days  more,  and  my  course  is  ended 
here.  I  have  taken  leave  of  all  my  friends,  even  of  my  dearest  judge,  and 
of  those  fair  acquaintances 1  whom  I  beheld  under  your  auspices,  —  auspice 
Teucro.  I  have  consummated  all  my  professional  business,  and  now  only 
linger  to  arrange  a  few  personal  affairs,  to  equip  myself  for  travel,  and  to 
scrawl  a  few  letters  and  some  writing  to  which  I  am  bound  before  leaving. 
I  am  heart-sick  of  appointing  the  day  on  which  I  shall  leave ;  for  I  have 
found  that,  in  my  eagerness  to  get  away,  I  have  constantly  underrated  the 
labor  I  was  to  perform.  Monday  after  Monday  has  been  fixed  upon ;  and 
when  the  day  has  come,  business,  with  its  hydra-head,  presented  some  unex- 
pected impediment.  But  now  the  day  is  within  my  grasp,  —  a  few  hours, 
that  may  be  counted  soon,  with  their  swift-running  sands,  are  all  that  is 
left. 

I  yesterday  talked  with  Fletcher2  about  your  "Political  Ethics."  We 
debated  the  question,  whether  a  citizen  should  be  obliged,  under  a  penalty, 
to  vote,  as  he  is  to  serve  on  the  jury.  If  voting  be  a  duty  and  not  a  priv- 
ilege, should  not  the  duty  be  enforced  by  law?  At  our  recent  election 
two  of  our  wealthiest  citizens,  whose  position  in  society  is  mainly  accorded 
on  account  of  their  wealth,  declined  voting.  Their  immense  property  was 
protected  by  the  law,  and  yet  they  would  not  interfere  or  assist  in  the  choice 
of  the  law-makers.  I  wish  you  would  ponder  this  question  for  your  book. 
I  promised  Mr.  Fletcher  that  he  should  some  day  read  a  solution  of  it  from 
your  pen. 

I  lately  fell  in  with  John  Neal,  of  Portland,  and  told  him  of  your  work. 
I  described  it  so  as  to  enlist  his  interest  and  that  of  my  friend  and  host, 
Mr.  Daveis,  of  Portland. 

I  shall  hear  of  your  success  across  the  ocean,  and  perhaps  may  be  able  to 
send  an  echo  back.  But  let  me  repeat,  do  not  be  over-hasty.  Take  time. 
You  have  a  good  plan  and  good  materials,  and  do  not  mar  both  by  too  great 
anxiety  to  rush  before  the  public. 

As  ever,  faithfully, 

Chas.  Sumner. 

1  The  Misses  Appleton,  afterwards  Mrs.  Longfellow  and  Mrs.  Mackintosh, 
»  Richard  Fletcher,  ante,  p.  162. 


206  MEMOIR    OF   CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1837 

TO  DR.   FRANCIS  LIEBER. 

New  York,  Dec.  7,  1837. 

My  dear  Lieber,  —  I  have  returned  from  a  flying  visit  to  Washington, 
where  I  found  the  warm  reflection  of  your  friendship.  Gilpin  was  very  kind 
to  me,  and  placed  me  at  my  ease  in  the  little  business  which  I  had  on  hand. 
He  carried  me  for  a  portion  of  an  evening  to  the  President,  where  I  met  For- 
syth and  Woodbury.1  The  conversation  turned  upon  Canadian  affairs,  and 
I  was  astonished  by  the  ignorance  which  was  displayed  on  this  subject.  But 
in  a  farewell  letter,  let  me  not  consume  your  patience  or  my  own  by  unfruit- 
ful politics.2  .  .  . 

And  now,  my  dear  friend,  we  must  part.  The  sea  will  soon  receive  me 
on  its  stormy  bosom.  To-morrow  I  embark  for  Havre,  and  I  assure  you 
it  is  with  a  palpitating  heart  that  I  think  of  it.  Hope  and  joyous  anticipa- 
tions send  a  thrill  through  me ;  but  a  deep  anxiety  and  sense  of  the  importance 
of  the  step  check  the  thrill  of  pleasure.  I  need  say  nothing  to  you,  I  believe, 
in  justification  of  my  course,  as  you  enter  with  lively  feelings  into  my  ambi- 
tion and  desires.  Believe  me,  that  I  know  my  position  and  duties;  and 
though  I  trust  Europe  may  improve  me,  and  return  me  to  my  own  dear 
country  with  a  more  thorough  education  and  a  higher  standard  of  ambition 
and  life,  yet  it  cannot  destroy  any  simplicity  of  character  which  I  possess,  or 
divert  me  from  the  duties  of  the  world.  If  you  find  it  so  on  my  return,  I 
wish  you  to  show  your  continued  friendship  by  acting  as  my  mentor,  and  cor- 
recting my  aberration.  There  will  be  many  who  will  be  willing  to  cry  out 
during  my  absence,  "Europe  will  spoil  him."  Let  the  future  determine 
this.  To  my  sight  that  future  is  full  of  promise  and  hope;  but  I  will  not 
seek  to  lift  its  veil.  Farewell,  my  dear  friend;  your  friendship  has  been  to 
me  a  source  of  pride  and  pleasure,  and  I  hope  to  enjoy  it  much  more.  Re- 
member me  cordially  to  your  wife,  whom  I  most  highly  regard;  and  may 
God  bless  you  all. 

Faithfully  and  affectionately  yours, 

Charles  Sumner. 


TO  WILLIAM  FREDERICK  FRICK,  BALTIMORE,  MD. 

Astor  House,  New  York,  Dec.  7,  1837. 
My  dear  Frick,  —  I  feel  unwilling  to  leave  the  country,  not  to  return 
perhaps  until  after  the  completion  of  your  professional  studies,  without  ven- 
turing to  say  a  word  to  you  of  advice  and  encouragement,  which  you  will 

1  Henry  D.  Gilpin,  of  Philadelphia,  was  then  Solicitor  of  the  Treasury ;  John  Forsyth,  of 
Georgia,  and  Levi  Woodbury,  of  New  Hampshire,  were  members  of  President  Van  Bureifs 
Cabinet,  — the  former  as  Secretary  of  State,  and  the  latter  as  Secretary  of  the  Treasury. 

2  The  omitted  part  of  this  letter  relates  to  Dr.  Lieber's  "Political  Ethics,"  advising  at 
length  as  to  the  revision  of  the  manuscript  and  mode  of  publication,  and  giving  an  account 
of  what  Sumner  had  done  to  promote  public  interest  in  it,  and  assurance  of  a  continued  care 
for  its  success  while  in  Europe. 


JEt.  26.]  LAST   WORDS   TO  A  LAW   STUDENT.  207 

receive  as  from  a  friend,  I  trust.  My  conversation  with  you  during  the  de- 
lightful afternoon  at  Mr.  Donaldson's  has  interested  me  much  in  your  course, 
and  as  you  then  appealed  to  me,  I  feel  anxious  to  avail  myself  of  the  privilege 
afforded. 

Let  me  suggest,  then,  that  you  should  not  hesitate  to  propose  to  yourself 
the  highest  standard  of  professional  study  and  acquirement.  Be  not  deterred 
by  its  apparent  impracticability ;  but  strive  zealously,  and  you  will  be  aston- 
ished at  the  progress  you  make.  If  you  place  a  low  standard  at  which  to 
aim,  you  will  not  surely  rise  above  it,  even  if  you  reach  it;  whereas,  failing 
to  reach  a  higher  mark  may  be  full  of  honor.  In  plain  language,  determine 
that  you  will  master  the  whole  compass  of  law ;  and  do  not  shrink  from  the 
crabbed  page  of  black-letter,  the  multitudinous  volumes  of  reports,  or  even 
the  gigantic  abridgments.  Keep  the  high  standard  in  your  mind's  eye,  and 
you  will  certainly  reach  some  desirable  point.  I  am  led  to  make  these  sug- 
gestions from  knowing,  from  my  experience  with  law  students,  that  the  whis- 
perings of  their  indolence  and  the  suggestions  of  practitioners,  with  more 
business  than  knowledge,  lead  them  to  consider  that  all  proper  professional 
attainments  may  be  stored  up  with  very  slight  study.  I  know  from  observa- 
tion that  great  learning  is  not  necessary  in  order  to  make  money  at  the  bar; 
and  that,  indeed,  the  most  ignorant  are  often  among  the  wealthiest  lawyers : 
but  I  would  not  dignify  their  pursuit  with  the  name  of  a  profession,  —  it  is 
in  nothing  better  than  a  trade.  And  I  feel  persuaded,  from  the  honorable 
ambition  which  characterizes  you,  that  you  would  not  be  content  to  tread  in 
their  humble  track.  Pursue  the  law,  then,  as  a  science;  study  it  in  books; 
and  let  the  results  of  your  studies  ripen  from  meditation  and  conversation  in 
your  own  mind.  Make  it  a  rule  never  to  pass  a  phrase  or  sentence  or  proposi- 
tion which  you  do  not  understand.  If  it  is  not  intelligible,  —  so,  indeed,  that 
a  clear  idea  is  stamped  upon  your  mind,  — consult  the  references  in  the  margin 
and  other  works  which  treat  of  the  same  subject;  and  do  not  hesitate,  more- 
over, to  confess  your  ignorance  or  inability  to  understand  it,  and  seek  assist- 
ance from  some  one  more  advanced  in  the  pursuit.  In  this  way,  you  will 
gradually — per  intervalla  ac  spiramenta  temporis  —  make  advances  and  clear 
the  way.  You  may  seem  to  move  slowly  at  first ;  but  it  is  like  the  tardy  labor 
of  fixing  the  smooth  rails  on  which  the  future  steam-car  is  to  bowl  through 
the  country.  I  would  not  have  you  understand  that  I  am  a  devotee  of  au- 
thorities. There  are  few,  I  flatter  myself,  who  are  more  disposed  than  I  am 
to  view  the  law  as  a  coherent  collection  of  principles  rather  than  a  bundle  of 
cases.  With  me,  cases  are  the  exponents  of  principles;  and  I  would  have  you 
read  them  in  order  to  understand  the  principles  of  the  law  and  the  grounds 
of  them.  The  best  way,  therefore,  of  reading  them  is  in  connection  with 
some  text-book,  following  the  different  references  in  the  margin  to  their 
sources,  and  thus  informing  yourself  of  the  reasons  by  which  the  principles  are 
supported.  The  most  important  cases,  in  which  some  principle  has  been  first 
evolved  or  first  received  a  novel  application,  are  called  "  leading  cases,"  and 
all  these  should  be  read  with  great  attention.  These  are  the  caskets  of  the 
law,  containing  the  great  fundamental  principles  which  are  applied  in  numer- 
ous subsequent  cases  of  less  impression.     There  are  not  many  who  can  be 


208  MEMOIR  OF  CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1837. 

prevailed  upon  to  study  reports  in  this  way ;  but  all  who  have  ever  done  it, 
within  my  knowledge,  have  reaped  ample  benefit  therefrom.  In  this  connec- 
tion, let  me  renew  my  advice  that  you  should  diligently  study  the  characters 
of  reporters  and  judges.  It  may  seem  a  hard  task  at  first  blush,  but  I  assure 
you  it  is  of  comparatively  easy  accomplishment  to  familiarize  yourself  with 
the  character  of  every  reporter  and  of  all  the  important  judges  in  English 
history.  To  this  end  read  legal  biography,  wherever  you  can  lay  your  hands 
upon  it,  —  Roscoe's  "  Lives,"  the  collection  in  the  "  London  Law  Magazine," 
"  American  Jurist,"  &c.  Study  legal  bibliography;  acquaint  yourself  with 
the  time  of  publication  of  every  legal  work,  and  the  repute  in  which  it  has 
been  held ;  examine  its  preface  and  look  at  the  book  itself,  so  that  you  may 
have  it  bodily  before  you  whenever  you  see  it  referred  to. 

I  hope  you  will  not  consider  me  as  suggesting  too  much  when  I  add,  Study 
the  Norman  or  Law  French.  A  few  hours  a  day  for  a  few  weeks  will  give 
you  a  competent  knowledge  of  it.  There  is  a  dictionary  of  the  language  by 
Kelham,  but  it  is  very  poor,  and  you  must  rely  upon  your  good  wits  to  assist 
you.  At  the  beginning  of  the  "  Instructor  Clericalis,"  you  will  find  a  list 
of  the  principal  abbreviations  which  prevail  in  the  black-letter.  Commence 
studying  Norman  by  reading  Littleton  in  an  old  copy  of  Coke-Littleton. 
There  the  translation  will  serve  for  a  dictionary.  Then  attempt  "  The  Mir- 
ror "  or  Britton,  and  a  few  pages  of  the  "Year-Books."  Do  not  consider 
that  you  will  never  have  any  use  for  this  learning,  and  therefore  that  it  is  not 
worth  the  time  it  costs  to  obtain  it.  A  few  weeks  will  suffice  to  make  you 
such  a  proficient  in  it  that  you  will  never  again  be  obliged  to  study  it.  I 
assure  you  that  I  have  found  occasion  for  my  scanty  knowledge  of  this ;  and 
that,  slight  as  it  is,  at  two  different  times  it  has  given  me  opportunities  of 
no  little  value. 

I  need  hardly  add  to  these  desultory  recommendations  that  you  cannot 
read  history  too  much,  particularly  that  of  England  and  the  United  States. 
History  is  the  record  of  human  conduct  and  experience ;  and  it  is  to  this  that 
jurisprudence  is  applied.  Moreover,  in  the  English  history  is  to  be  found 
the  gradual  development  of  that  portion  of  the  common  law  which  is  called 
the  Constitution,  —  for  the  British  Constitution  stands  chiefly  on  the  common 
law.  The  history  of  legislation  in  England  contains  the  origin,  also,  of  por- 
tions of  the  Constitution.  History  is  of  itself  such  a  fascinating  study  that 
it  can  need  to  your  mind  no  such  feeble  recommendation  as  mine. 

But,  above  all,  love  and  honor  your  profession.  If  you  become  attached  to 
it,  all  that  you  read  will  make  a  lively  impression  on  your  mind,  as  the  coun- 
tenance of  his  mistress  upon  a  lover.  You  cannot  forget  it.  And  here  let 
me  say  that  you  can  make  yourself  love  the  law,  proverbially  dry  as  it  is,  or 
any  other  study.  Here  is  an  opportunity  for  the  exercise  of  the  will.  Deter- 
mine that  you  will  love  it,  and  devote  yourself  to  it  as  to  a  bride.  Adopt  the 
Horatian  declaration,  — 

"  Quid  verum  atque  decens  euro  «t  rogo,  et  omnis  in  hoc  sum." 1 
Among  the  old  English  ballads  is  one  which  I  read  a  long  time  ago,  the 

i  Epis.  I.  i.  11. 


JEt.  26.]  THOUGHTS   IN  LEAVING.  209 

name  of  which  I  have  now  forgotten ;  but  it  is  of  a  knight  who  was  compelled 
to  make  love  to  a  hideous  lump  of  deformity,  without  seemliness  or  knowl- 
edge. The  knight  did  his  devoir,  and  espoused  his  unwelcome  bride ;  when 
lo !  she  suddenly,  on  the  marriage  eve,  underwent  an  entire  change,  and  ap- 
peared to  his  admiring  gaze  a  queen  of  beauty  and  love.  And  such,  my  dear 
Frick,  is  the  law,  — harsh  and  forbidding  at  first;  but  let  the  suitor  summon 
resolution,  and  determine  that  he  will  woo  and  win  this  tough  jade,  and  the 
transformation  at  once  takes  place.  Jurisprudence  appears  before  him  with 
untold  attractions,  and  he  wonders  that  he  could  have  hesitated  in  the 
pursuit. 

If  you  conclude  to  go  to  Cambridge,  —  and  I  think  you  would  be  much 
benefited  by  studying  there,  —  I  would  advise  you  to  go  in  April  and  con- 
tinue till  January.  I  will  add  to  this  long  letter  a  couple  of  letters  of  intro- 
duction, which  you  may  be  pleased  to  present  if  you  should  make  up  your 
mind  to  go.  They  will  give  you  at  once  the  confidence  and  regard  of  the 
professors. 

And  now,  pardon  this  most  hasty  scrawl,  written  after  midnight,  with  a 
mind  teeming  rather  with  thoughts  of  travel  and  foreign  lands  than  the  law. 
Out  of  the  fulness  of  the  heart  I  have  written,  and  only  hope  that  you  may 
read  it  with  the  pleasure  with  which  it  has  been  penned.  If  any  thing  I  have 
assumed  to  say  should  be  of  any  service  to  you,  I  shall  be  happy;  if  not,  I 
shall  still  have  the  happiness  of  my  humble  effort  to  do  some  good,  unsuc- 
cessful though  it  be. 

In  a  short  time,  and  I  shall  descend  upon  the  sea.  Let  me  bid  you  good-by, 
and  believe  me, 

Faithfully  and  affectionately  yours, 

Chas.  Sumner. 


TO  PROFESSOR  SIMON  GREENLEAF,  CAMBRIDGE. 

Astor  House,  Dec.  7,  1837. 
My  dear  Friend,  —  My  hours  of  terra  jirma  are  numbered.  To-morrow, 
before  this  time,  I  shall  be  rocking  on  the  water.  Qualms  of  sea-sickness 
will  be  upon  me;  and  more  than  these,  the  anxiety  and  regrets  at  leaving 
friends,  kindred,  and  country.  It  is  no  slight  affair  to  break  away  from  busi- 
ness which  is  to  give  me  my  daily  bread,  and  pass  across  the  sea  to  untried 
countries,  usages,  and  languages.  And  I  feel  now  pressing  with  a  mountain's 
weight  the  responsibility  of  my  step.  But  I  go  abroad  with  the  firmest 
determination  to  devote  myself  to  self-improvement  from  the  various  sources 
of  study,  observation,  and  society;  and  to  return  an  American.  Gladly  will 
I  receive  any  of  those  accomplishments  or  modifications  of  character  which 
justly  proceed  from  an  extended  survey  of  the  human  family.  I  pray  fer- 
vently that  I  may  return  with  benefits  on  my  head ;  and  that  the  affectations 
of  character  and  indifference  to  country,  which  are  thought  sometimes  to 
proceed  from  travel,  may  not  reach  me.  All  this  is  in  the  unknown  future, 
which  I  may  not  penetrate.  To  the  candid  judgment  and  criticism  of  my 
vol.  i.  14 


210  MEMOIR  OF   CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1837. 

friends  I  shall  submit  myself  on  my  return ;  and  I  shall  esteem  it  one  of  the 
highest  duties  of  friendship  to  correct  me,  and  to  assist  in  bringing  me  back 
to  the  path  of  sense  and  simplicity,  if  it  shall  be  found  that  I  have  departed 
from  it.  Do  not  let  it  be  said,  then,  that  I  shall  be  spoiled  by  Europe;  but 
rather  suggest  that  I  shall  return  with  an  increased  love  for  my  country,  an 
admiration  for  its  institutions,  and  added  capacity  for  performing  my  duty  in 
life.  My  standard  of  knowledge  and  character  must  be  elevated,  and  my  own 
ambition  have  higher  objects.  If  this  is  not  so,  then  shall  I  have  seen  Eu- 
rope in  vain,  and  my  friends  may  regret  their  generous  confidence  in  me. 

My  pen  trembles  in  my  hand  as  in  that  of  a  culprit  who  sees  before  him 
the  awful  tree,  and  counts  the  seconds  which  remain  to  him.  I  have  a  thou- 
sand things  to  say,  but  no  time  in  which  to  express  them ;  so  with  love  to  Mrs. 
Greenleaf,  farewell,  and  believe  me 

Your  affectionate  friend, 

Charles  Sumner 


TO  HIS  SISTER  JULIA,  AGED  TEN  YEARS. 

Astor  House,  Dec.  7,  1837. 

My  dear  Julia,  —  I  don't  remember  that  I  ever  wrote  you  a  letter.  I 
feel  confident,  however,  that  your  correspondence  cannot  be  very  extensive; 
and,  therefore,  I  may  flatter  myself  that  what  I  write  you  will  be  read  with 
attention,  and  I  trust,  also,  deposited  in  your  heart.  Before  trusting  my- 
self to  the  sea,  let  me  say  a  few  words  to  you,  which  shall  be  my  good-by.  I 
have  often  spoken  to  you  of  certain  habits  of  personal  care,  which  I  will  not 
here  more  particularly  refer  to  than  by  asking  you  to  remember  all  that  I  have 
told  you.  ...  I  am  very  glad,  my  dear,  to  remember  your  cheerful  counte- 
nance. I  shall  keep  it  in  my  mind,  as  I  travel  over  the  sea  and  land,  and 
hope  that  when  I  return  I  may  still  find  its  pleasant  smile  ready  to  greet  me. 
Try  never  to  cry.  But,  above  all  things,  do  not  be  obstinate  or  passionate.  If 
you  find  your  temper  mastering  you,  always  stop  till  you  can  count  sixty,  before 
you  say  or  do  any  thing.  Let  it  be  said  of  you  that  you  are  always  amiable. 
Love  your  father  and  mother,  and  brothers  and  sisters,  and  all  your  friends; 
cultivate  an  affectionate  disposition.  If  you  find  that  you  can  do  any  thing 
which  will  add  to  the  pleasure  of  your  parents,  or  anybody  else,  be  sure  to  do 
it.  Consider  every  opportunity  of  adding  to  the  pleasure  of  others  as  of  the 
highest  importance,  and  do  not  be  unwilling  to  sacrifice  some  enjoyment  of 
your  own,  even  some  dear  plaything,  if  by  doing  so  you  can  promote  the 
happiness  of  others.  If  you  follow  this  advice,  you  will  never  be  selfish  or 
ungenerous,  and  everybody  will  love  you.  .  .  . 

Study  all  the  lessons  given  you  at  school;  and  when  at  home,  in  the  time 
when  you  are  tired  of  play,  read  some  good  books  which  will  help  to  improve 
the  mind.  ...  If  you  will  let  Horace  read  this  letter,  it  will  do  the  same,  per- 
haps, as  one  addressed  to  him.  Give  my  love  to  mother,  and  Mary,  and 
the  rest.  Your  affectionate  brother, 

Chas. 


&t.  26.]  DOWN  THE   HARBOR.  211 


TO  GEORGE  S.  HILLARD,  BOSTON. 

Astor  House,  Dec.  8, 1837. 

My  dear  George,  —  It  is  now  far  past  midnight,  and  I  sail  to-morrow 
forenoon.  But  I  must  devote  a  few  moments  to  you.  Your  three  letters 
have  all  been  received,  and  have  given  me  great  pleasure.  I  have  a  fresh 
copy  of  "  Wordsworth  "  as  my  cabin  companion,  and  I  hope  that  I  may  be 
penetrated  with  his  genius.  Sea-sickness  now  stares  me  in  the  face,  and  the 
anxiety  arising  from  the  responsibility  of  my  course  quite  overcomes  me.  I 
have  in  my  letters  to  several  of  my  friends  alluded  particularly  to  my  feel- 
ings, and  also  defended  my  plan  of  travel;  but  to  you  I  need  start  no  such 
idea.  Your  mind  goes  with  me;  and  your  heart  jumps  in  step  with  mv 
own. 

I  passed  a  pleasant  day  in  Philadelphia,  where  I  dined  with  Peters  and 
supped  with  Ingersoll,  and  met  all  the  first  lawyers ;  then  a  delightful  home- 
like day  in  Burlington,  where  S.  P.  received  me  with  sisterly  regard,  I  may 
almost  say;  and  the  whole  family  made  my  stay  very  pleasant.  In  New 
York  I  have  been  exceedingly  busy,  for  the  day  I  have  been  there,  in  arrang- 
ing my  money  affairs,  and  writing  letters  of  all  sorts. 

Keep  your  courage  up,  my  dear  Hillard;  have  hope,  and  don't  bate  a  jot 
of  heart.  The  way  is  clear  before  you,  and  you  will  bowl  along  pleasantly 
and  speedily.  Be  happy.  Remember  me  affectionately  to  all  my  friends, 
and  to  your  wife ;  and  believe  me 

Ever  affectionately  yours, 

Chas.  Sumner. 


TO  GEORGE  S.  HBLLARD. 

On  Board  "  Albany/'  Dec.  8,  1837. 

My  dear  George,  —  We  have  left  the  wharf,  and  with  a  steamer  by 
our  side.  A  smacking  breeze  has  sprung  up,  and  we  shall  part  this  company 
soon;  and  then  for  the  Atlantic!  Farewell,  then,  my  friends,  my  pursuits, 
my  home,  my  country!  Each  bellying  wave,  on  its  rough  crest,  carries  me 
away.  The  rocking  vessel  impedes  my  pen.  And  now,  as  my  head  begins 
slightly  to  reel,  my  imagination  entertains  the  glorious  prospects  before  me, 
—  the  time-honored  sites  and  edifices  of  the  Old  World,  her  world-renowned 
men,  her  institutions  handed  down  from  distant  generations,  and  her  various 
languages  replete  with  learning  and  genius.  These  may  I  enjoy  in  the  spirit 
that  becomes  a  Christian  and  an  American ! 

My  captain  is  Johnston,  a  brother  of  Miss  Johnston,  the  friend  of  Mrs. 
Sparks,  and  a  very  good  seaman-like  fellow.  Fellow-passengers  are  four  in 
number,  —  one  a  young  man  about  twenty,  a  brother  of  the  captain  who 
makes  his  first  trip;  another,  Mr.  Munroe,1  a  commission  merchant  of  Bos- 
ton; and  two  others  who  I  am  told  are  French,  though  I  have  not  yet  been 

1  John  Munroe,  afterwards  a  banker  in  Paris. 


212  MEMOIR   OF   CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1887 

able  to  distinguish  them  among  the  number  of  strangers  who  are  going  down 
to  return  in  the  steamboat.  Xo  ladies  are  aboard.  Your  father  was  kind 
enough  to  come  to  the  wharf  and  see  me  off. 

I  have  said  farewell  to  you  and  all  my  friends ;  you  know  how  my  heart 
yearns  to  them  all.  Let  them  know  that  while  I  was  leaving  my  native  land 
I  thought  of  them.  I  have  them  all  before  me;  and  my  eyes  are  moist  while 
T  think  of  them.     I  cannot  help  it,  —  ".albeit  unused  to  the  melting  mood." 

Again,  Farewell, 

Charles  Sumner. 


TO  HIS  BROTHER  GEORGE. 

On  Board  Packet  "  Albany,"  Friday,  Dec.  8. 
My  dear  George,  —  I  have  longed  for  a  moment  to  write  you,  and 
seize  the  few  moments  before  the  steamboat  will  leave.  We  are  under  tow: 
but  a  smart  breeze  promises  soon  to  relieve  the  steamer  and  bear  us  swiftly 
to  the  Atlantic.  And  now,  at  parting,  bear  with  a  brother's  advice.  You 
have  talents  and  acquirements  which  are  remarkable,  and  which  with  well- 
directed  application  will  carry  you  to  any  reasonable  point  of  human  distinc- 
tion. Follow  commerce  in  a  liberal  and  scientific  spirit,  and  become  one  of 
the  traffickers  of  the  earth ;  or  follow  law,  and  become  a  thorough  and  lib- 
eral jurist  and  advocate,  who  sees  and  regards  mankind  as  much  as  the  spe- 
cial interests  of  his  client.  Follow,  my  dear  boy,  an  honorable  calling,  which 
shall  engross  your  time  and  give  you  position  and  fame,  and  besides  enable 
you  to  benefit  your  fellow-men.  Do  not  waste  your  time  in  driblets.  Deem 
every  moment  precious,  —  far  more  so  than  the  costliest  stones.  Make 
a  rule,  then,  that  you  will  pursue  some  regular  studies  at  all  seasons;  and 
keep  some  good  book  constantly  on  hand  to  occupy  every  stray  moment.  And 
consider  your  evenings,  —  how  full  of  precious  time,  with  boundless  oppor- 
tunities of  study!  Do  use  them.  I  am  no  Puritan,  and  would  not  debar  you 
from  innocent  pleasures ;  but  there  is  a  moderation  to  be  observed.  My  head 
swims  so  with  the  motion  of  the  vessel  that  I  cannot  write  much  longer. 
Preserve  an  affectionate  heart  for  your  family,  friends,  and  society,  and  be 
not  forward  or  vain.  Believe  that  modesty  and  a  retiring  disposition  are 
better  recommendations  than  the  contrary.  The  letter  is  called  for  to  be 
carried  up  by  the  steamer ;  and  so  good-by,  and  believe  me  affectionately 
yours,  Chas. 

I  wished  much  to  write  Mary,  before  sailing;  but  my  engagements  hare 
been  so  numerous  that  I  could  not.     Let  her  know  this. 


^t.  26-27.]  THE  BEGINNING  OF  A  JOURNAL.  213 


CHAPTER  X. 

THE  VOYAGE   AND   ARRIVAL.  —  DECEMBER,  1837,   TO  JANUARY,  1838  - 

AGE,  26-27. 

THIS  memoir,  for  the  period  of  Sumner's  absence  from  the 
country,  must  be  confined  chiefly  to  selections  from  his 
letters,  and  a  journal  which  he  began  on  the  voyage  and  continued 
nearly  four  months. 

The  journal  begins  thus  :  — 

Dec.  25,  1837. — Christmas.  It  is  now  seventeen  days  since  I  left  New 
/  York  for  Havre  in  the  ship  "  Albany,"  Captain  Johnston.1  My  passage  had 
been  taken,  and  my  bill  on  the  Rothschilds  in  Paris  obtained,  on  the  7th 
December.  On  that  day  dined  with  a  pleasant  party  at  Mrs.  Ledyard's,2  — 
the  last  dinner  of  my  native  land.  Left  early,  called  on  one  or  two  friends, 
and  spent  the  residue  of  the  hours  before  retiring — running  far  into  the 
watches  of  the  night  —  in  writing  letters  ;  saying  some  parting  words  to  the 
friends  whom  I  value.  And  a  sad  time  it  was,  full  of  anxious  thoughts  and 
doubts,  with  mingled  gleams  of  glorious  anticipations.  I  thought  much  of 
the  position  which  I  abandoned  for  the  present ;  the  competent  income  which 
I  forsook;  the  favoring  tide,  whose  buoyant  waters  were  bearing  me  so  well, 
which  I  refused  to  take  even  at  its  ebb,  —  these  I  thought  of,  and  then  the 
advice  and  warnings  of  many  whose  opinions  I  respect.  The  dear  friends  I 
was  to  leave  behind  all  came  rushing  before  me,  and  affection  for  them  was 
a  new  element  in  the  cup  of  my  anxieties.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  the 
dreams  of  my  boyhood  came  before  me:  the  long-pondered  visions,  first  sug- 
gested by  my  early  studies,  and  receiving  new  additions  with  every  step  of 
my  progress;  my  desire,  which  has  long  been  above  all  other  desires,  to  visit 
Europe ;  and  my  long-cherished  anticipations  of  the  most  intellectual  pleas- 
ure and  the  most  permanent  profit.  Europe  and  its  reverend  history,  its 
ancient  races,  its  governments  handed  down  from  old  time,  its  sights  memo- 
rable in  story;  above  all,  its  present  existing  institutions,  laws,  and  society, 
and  its  men  of  note  and  mind,  followed  in  the  train,  —  and  the  thought  of 

1  Described  in  a  letter  of  Sumner  to  Judge  Story,  Dec.  25,  as  "a  man  of  science  and 
veracity." 

2  Mrs.  Susan  Ledyard,  53  Crosby  Street;  a  friend  of  Judge  Story,  and  the  daughter  of 
Brockholst  Livingston,  a  judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  1806-23. 
She  died  March  7,  1864;  surviving  her  husband,  Benjamin  Ledyard,  more  than  half  a 
century. 


214  MEMOIR   OF   CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1837-^8. 

these  reassured  my  spirits.  In  going  abroad  at  my  present  age,  and  situated 
as  I  am,  I  feel  that  I  take  a  bold,  almost  a  rash,  step.  One  should  not  easily 
believe  that  he  can  throw  off  his  clients  and  then  whistle  them  back,  "  as 
a  huntsman  does  his  pack."  But  I  go  for  purposes  of  education,  and  to 
gratify  longings  which  prey  upon  my  mind  and  time.  Certainly,  I  never 
could  be  content  to  mingle  in  the  business  of  my  profession,  with  that  devo- 
tion which  is  necessary  to  the  highest  success,  until  I  had  visited  Europe. 
The  course  which  my  studies  have  taken  has  also  made  it  highly  desirable 
that  I  should  have  the  advantage  derived  from  a  knowledge  of  the  European 
languages,  particularly  French  and  German,  and  also  a  moderate  acquaint- 
ance with  the  laws  and  institutions  of  the  Old  World,  more  at  least  than  I 
can  easily  gain  at  home.  In  my  pursuits  lately  I  have  felt  the  want  of  this 
knowledge,  both  of  the  languages,  particularly  German,  and  of  the  Conti- 
nental jurisprudence.  I  believe,  then,  that,  by  leaving  my  profession  now,  I 
make  a  present  sacrifice  for  a  future  gain ;  that  I  shall  return  with  increased 
abilities  for  doing  good,  and  acting  well  my  part  in  life.  The  temptations 
of  Europe  I  have  been  warned  against,  and  am  fully  aware  of.  I  can  only 
pray  that  I  may  be  able  to  pass  through  them  in  safety,  and  add  my  firmest 
efforts  to  guard  my  footsteps.  May  I  return  with  an  undiminished  love  for 
my  friends  and  country,  with  a  heart  and  mind  untainted  by  the  immor- 
alities of  the  Old  World,  manners  untouched  by  its  affectations,  and  a  will- 
ingness to  resume  my  labors  with  an  unabated  determination  to  devote 
myself  faithfully  to  the  duties  of  an  American ! 

Such  were  the  thoughts  which  passed  through  my  mind  during  the  last 
night  before  sailing,  while  I  was  tracing  the  hasty  lines  which  were  to  go  to 
some  of  my  friends.  The  letters  were  written;  and  late  at  night,  or  rather 
near  morning,  I  went  to  bed. 

The  "  Albany  "  left  the  wharf  about  noon,  Dec.  8,  and,  while 
she  was  being  towed  by  a  steamer  down  the  harbor,  Sumner  wrote 
letters  to  Judge  Story,  Hillard,  and  his  brother  George.  A  fresh 
breeze  then  took  the  vessel  gayly  along,  and  the  spires  of  the  city 
soon  faded  from  view.  He  remained  on  deck,  enjoying  the  splen- 
did sight  of  "  the  ship  bending  to  the  wind,"  and  keeping  his  eyes 
on  the  receding  shore,  "  hill  after  hill  and  point  after  point,"  till 
all,  except  the  Jersey  headlands,  "  that  met  the  most  searching 
gaze  was  the  blue  line  which  marked  the  meeting  of  the  waters 
and  the  land."  Retiring  then  to  his  berth,  he  "  thought  of  friends, 
and  all  that  he  had  left  behind,  with  confidence  in  their  continued 
regard."  "You  cannot  imagine,"  he  wrote  to  Hillard,  "the  in- 
tensity with  which  my  mind,  during  these  moments,  reveited  to 
the  old  scenes  and  faces  with  which  it  was  familiar." 

The  wind  kept  fair  and  strong,  and  the  voyage,  for  one  made 
in  a  sailing  vessel  and  during  the  winter,  was  exceptionally  rapid 
and  agreeable. 


^t.  26-27.]  THE   VOYAGE.  215 

JOURNAL. 

Dec.  25.  On  the  fourth  day  I  was  rejoiced  to  find  myself  able  to  read, 
though  lying  in  my  berth.  Previously  my  time  had  passed  without  the  relief 
which  this  at  once  afforded.  Chancellor  Kent  had  been  kind  enough  to  advise 
me  to  take  a  stock  of  pleasant  books,  and  I  had  provided  myself  with  some 
on  the  morning  of  sailing.  I  read  the  fourth  and  fifth  parts  of  Lockhart's 
"  Life  of  Scott,"  James's  novel  of  "  Attila,"  Cooper's  "  England,"  and  the 
"  Life  of  Burr,"  while  stretched  in  my  berth;  and  never  were  books  a  greater 
luxury :  they  were  friends  and  companions  where  I  was,  in  a  degree,  friendless 
and  companionless. 

At  the  end  of  the  first  week  I  was  able,  with  some  ado,  to  appear  at  the 
dinner-table.  I  know  no  feeling  which,  in  a  small  way,  is  keener  than  for  a 
man  disabled  by  the  weakness  rather  than  the  nausea  of  sea-sickness,  with 
his  appetite  returning  upon  him  like  a  Bay  of  Fundy  tide,  to  lie  in  his  berth 
and  hear  the  clatter  of  plates  and  the  merry  voices  of  his  fellow-passengers, 
as  they  attacked  a  turkey  or  a  duck,  and  as  another  cork  briskly  left  the 
bottle.  Our  dinners  I  found  quite  pleasant.  Our  company  was  small, — 
Mr.  John  Munroe,  a  young  merchant  going  to  establish  himself  in  Paris; 
Mr.  Darlington,  a  midshipman  on  leave  of  absence  for  his  health;  M.  Vasseur, 
a  young  Frenchman  returning  home  after  upwards  of  a  year's  absence;  and 
a  young  man,  a  brother  of  the  captain.  And  though  with  none  of  these  did 
I  have  any  particular  sympathy,  —  any  thing,  indeed,  which  under  other 
circumstances  would  have  led  to  more  than  a  passing  acquaintance, — yet  I 
found  them  uniformly  pleasant;  and  our  dinners,  between  four  and  five 
o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  formed  the  reunions  of  the  day.  Several  times  after 
dinner  I  revived  my  old  and  forgotten  knowledge,  first  gained  in  college  and 
with  college  abandoned,  of  whist  and  chess.1  A  walk  on  the  ever- wet  deck, 
a  talk  with  the  captain,  a  hand  at  cards  or  at  the  chess-board,  reading, 
and  the  study  of  French  have  occupied  the  week  which  has  passed  from  the 
time  of  deserting  my  berth  till  now.  Our  passage  has  been  somewhat 
rough;  but  that  was  expected  from  the  season.  We  have,  however,  kept 
our  course  constantly,  without  being  obliged  to  tack  once.  We  are  now  in 
the  English  Channel,  passing  over  the  grave  of  the  Spanish  Armada.  We 
have  left  Scilly  and  Lizard  on  our  left,  without  however  being  able  to  catch 
a  sight  of  them,  and  are  now  midway  between  the  coasts  of  England  and 
France.  My  mind  has  felt  a  thrill  under  the  associations  of  these  waters ; 
it  is  my  first  experience  of  the  rich  memories  of  European  history.  On  my 
left  now  are  the  chalky  cliffs  of  England,  —  Plymouth,  from  which  the  Pilgrim 
ancestors  of  New  England  last  started  to  come  to  our  bleak  places;  also  the 
Isle  of  Wight,  consecrated  by  the  imprisonment  of  the  royal  Charles;  and 
the  harbor  of  Portsmouth,  big  with  the  navies  of  England.  On  my  right 
is  la  belle  France  and  the  smiling  province  of  Normandy ;  and  the  waters 
which  now  bear  this  American  ship  are  the  same  over  which  Csesar  with  his 

1  A  letter  to  Hillard  of  Dec.  25  thus  refers  to  these  games :  "  Both  of  which  acquired  in 
college,  I  have  found  little  time  or  inclination  to  pursue  since;  but,  indeed,  have  put  them 
away,  with  many  other  childish  things  of  college  life." 


216  MEMOIR   OF   CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1837-38. 

frail  boats,  and  afterwards  William  of  Normandy,  passed  to  the  conquest  of 
England.  Their  waves  dash  now  with  the  same  foamy  crests  as  when  these 
two  conquerors  timidly  entrusted  themselves  to  their  bosom.  Civilization, 
in  the  mean  time,  with  its  attendant  servants  —  commerce,  printing,  and 
Christianity  —  has  been  working  changes  in  the  two  countries  on  either 
side;  so  that  Caesar  and  William,  could  they  revisit  the  earth,  might  not 
recognize  the  lands  from  which  they  passed,  or  which  they  subdued.  The 
sea  receives  no  impress  from  man.  This  idea  Byron  has  expanded  in  some 
of  the  most  beautiful  stanzas  he  has  written  in  the  "  Childe  Harold." 

On  Christmas  Day,  besides  writing  in  his  journal,  he  wrote 
letters  to  Hillard  and  Judge  Story.  To  Hillard  he  wrote :  "  It  is 
now  seventeen  days,  and  I  am  without  news  of  you  and  your  af- 
fairs, and  of  all  our  common  friends ;  and  I  feel  sad  to  think  that 
many  more  days  will  elapse  before  I  shall  hear  from  you.  When 
you  write,  dwell  on  all  particulars ;  tell  me  about  all  my  friends, 
give  me  every  turn  of  the  wheel."  To  Judge  Story  he  wrote : 
"  It  is  now  about  seven  o'clock  on  the  evening  of  Christmas ; 
allowing  about  five  hours  for  difference  of  time  between  this 
longitude  and  Cambridge,  it  will  be  about  two  o'clock  with  you ; 
and  your  family,  with  Mrs.  Story  in  restored  health,  I  trust,  are 
now  assembling  for  the  happy  meal.  I  have  just  left  the  dinner- 
table,  where  I  remembered  all  in  a  glass  of  Burgundy."  In  both 
letters,  as  in  his  journal,  he  dwelt  upon  the  historic  scenes  which 
belong  to  the  English  Channel.  While  writing  the  letter  to 
Judge  Story,  a  French  whaleman  came  in  sight,  "the  tricolor 
flapping  in  the  wind,"  the  first  sail  seen  during  the  voyage,  —  a 
refreshing  sight,  but  momentary,  as  both  vessels  were  speeding 
in  opposite  directions.  On  the  evening  of  the  25th,  the  captain 
descried  dimly  Start  Point,  in  Devonshire ;  and  the  next  morn- 
ing Sumner  saw  Cape  Barfleur,  about  fifteen  miles  to  the  right, 
—  his  first  glimpse  of  Europe,  and  "  the  first  land  he  had  seen 
since  the  afternoon  of  the  eighth,  when  he  went  below  while  the 
headlands  of  New  Jersey  were  indistinctly  visible  on  the  distant 
horizon." 

On  account  of  unfavorable  winds  encountered  in  the  Channel, 
the  "  Albany  "  did  not  come  to  anchor  at  the  Havre  docks  till 
early  on  the  morning  of  the  28th,  —  less  than  twenty  days  from 
the  time  of  sailing. 

JOURNAL. 

Dec.  26, 1837.  At  half-past  two  o'clock  this  afternoon  a  pilot  from  Havre 
came  aboard.     We  were  still  off  Cape  Barfleur,  and,  as  he  informed  me, 


JEt.  26-27.]  ARRIVAL  AT  HAVRE.  217 

fifty-four  miles  from  Havre.  I  inquired  after  news,  and  particularly  from 
England;  to  which  his  reply  was,  tout  est  tranquille,  —  his  idea  of  news  seeming 
to  resolve  itself  into  the  question  of  peace  or  war. 

Dec.  27.  Still  in  Havre  Roads,  and  anchored  within  three  miles  of  the 
city.  Adverse  winds  have  disappointed  our  expectations,  and  doomed  us  to 
a  longer  imprisonment.  The  city  may  be  dimly  descried  beneath  a  heavy 
mist;  but  every  thing  is  so  indistinct  that  I  cannot  form  any  definite  idea  of 
its  size  or  general  appearance.     To-night  I  sleep  on  the  waters  of  France. 

He  wrote  to  his  sister  Mary,  the  27th,  giving  an  account  of  the 
voyage,  and  expressing  a  brother's  interest  in  her  studies :  — 

Before  leaving  New  York  I  intended  to  write  you,  and  say  a  few  words 
on  your  studies  and  education  in  other  respects,  which  I  felt  assured  you 
would  not  be  unwilling  to  receive  from  an  elder  brother.  But  the  multitude 
of  letters  which  I  felt  called  upon  to  write,  and  which  kept  me  engaged  into 
the  watches  of  the  morning,  saved  you  from  the  homily.  You  will  not  for- 
get what  I  have  told  you,  either  with  regard  to  study,  or,  what  is  more 
important  than  study,  health.  I  need  not  here  particularize  what  I  have 
said.  Try  to  understand  every  thing  as  you  proceed ;  and  cultivate  a  love  for 
every  thing  that  is  true,  good,  and  pure.  I  need  not  exhort  you  to  set  a  price 
upon  every  moment  of  time;  your  own  convictions,  I  have  no  doubt,  have 
taught  you  that  minutes  are  like  gold  filings,  too  valuable  to  be  slighted,  — 
for  a  heap  of  these  will  make  an  ingot.  Give  my  love  to  mother,  and  all  the 
family.  Tell  George  to  write  me  a  brisk,  news-full  letter. 
Your  affectionate  brother, 

Chas. 

JOURNAL. 

Dec.  28,  1837.  At  length  in  Havre,  with  antiquity  staring  at  me  from 
every  side.  At  four  o'clock  this  morning  weighed  anchor,  and  drifted  with 
the  tide  and  a  gentle  wind  to  the  docks;  a  noble  work,  contrived  for  the 
reception  of  vessels,  and  bearing  the  inscription  of  An  IX.  Bonaparte  ler  Con- 
sul, —  the  labor  of  this  great  man  meeting  me  on  the  very  threshold  of  France. 
Dismissed  from  the  custom  house  we  went  to  the  Hotel  de  New  York,  where 
a  smiling  French  woman  received  us,  and  we  were  shown  each  of  us  to  a 
chamber.  The  house  was  small  and  narrow,  and  the  stairs  composed  of 
tiles;  but  the  chamber  into  which  I  was  conducted  harmonized  with  my 
anticipations  of  a  French  apartment.  The  room  was  of  moderate  size,  with 
a  floor  of  hexagon  tiles  partially  covered  with  a  neat  rug-like  carpet ;  with  a 
bed  plump  and  neat  as  imagination  could  picture,  with  a  crimson  coverlet 
and  curtains;  with  curtains  to  the  window  of  linen  with  a  border  of  red,  and 
with  two  engravings  in  the  room  of  some  of  the  glorious  scenes  of  the 
French  Republic.  The  whole  was  un-American.  I  should  have  known  that 
I  was  in  a  foreign  place,  even  if  the  reality  of  a  sea-voyage  had  not  given  me 
the  completest  assurance  of  it.  My  apartment  taken,  for  which  I  am  to  pay 
three  francs  per  day,  I  at  once  escaped  to  view  the  city.     And  here  I  felt  a 


218  MEMOIR  OF  CHARLES   SUMNER.  11837-38. 

gush  of  interest  at  every  step.  Nothing  was  like  what  I  had  been  accus- 
tomed to.  Every  thing  was  old;  and  yet  to  me  every  thing  was  new.  Every 
building  which  I  passed  seemed  to  have  its  history.  Old  Time  himself  seemed 
to  look  down  from  its  roof.  And  yet  there  was  little  in  the  way  of  architecture ; 
the  single  element  of  interest  was  antiquity  combined  with  novelty.  I  saw 
but  one  street  with  a  sidewalk.  All  others  slanted  from  the  side  to  the  cen- 
tre, ad  mediam  Jilam  vice,  where  there  was  the  gutter;  and  all  were  slippery 
with  mud  and  moisture,  and  uncomfortable  to  the  feet  from  the  large  stones 
with  which  they  were  paved.  Scrub  horses  with  heavy  and  inconvenient 
harness ;  men  and  women  with  huge  wooden  shoes  which  clattered  over  the 
stones ;  women  in  caps  and  without  bonnets ;  market  women  on  donkeys  and 
horses,  with  panniers  containing  their  provisions  on  either  side, — these 
constantly  met  my  eye.  I  felt  as  I  looked  about  me  that  I  was  in  a  country 
where  custom  and  prescription  were  regarded;  where  changes,  and  of  course 
improvements,  were  slow  to  be  introduced,  from  the  impression  that  what  was 
established  was  for  the  best.  In  the  United  States  the  extreme  opposite  of 
this  character  prevails.  Nothing  is  beyond  the  reach  of  change  and  experi- 
ment. There  is  none  of  the  prestige  of  age  about  any  thing,  and  we  are 
ready  at  any  moment  to  lay  our  hands  on  any  custom  or  mode  of  business 
and  modify  it;  and,  though  we  may  sometimes  suffer  by  this  proclivity,  yet  it 
is  the  means  of  keeping  us  constantly  on  the  qui  vive  for  improvements.  The 
common  people  in  Havre  now  clatter  over  the  ground  in  the  same  shoes  which 
their  great-grandfathers  wore,  and  harness  their  horses  in  the  same  clumsy 
style.  It  appears  that  women  do  more  out-door  work  than  with  us.  The 
market  seemed  full  of  them,  and  we  met  them  in  every  street  carrying  arti- 
cles of  different  kinds.  In  my  walk  I  wandered  into  the  cathedral  at  the 
hour  in  which  they  were  celebrating  Mass,  and  there  found  many  market 
women,  as  they  appeared  to  be,  who  had  slipped  in  with  their  baskets  on  their 
arms,  and  for  a  few  moments  counted  their  beads,  and,  bending  to  the  ground 
in  the  attitude  of  devotion,  looked  absorbed  in  prayer.  There  is  something 
tangible  and  palpable  in  the  Catholic  faith  which  the  common  mind  readily 
takes  hold  of,  as  a  handle.  I  have  never  seen  people  in  the  United  States  of 
this  grade,  except  at  a  Methodist  meeting,  so  absorbed  in  devotion.  Ascend- 
ing the  hill  at  Havre,  which  I  did  in  company  with  Mr.  Emerson,1 1  had  a 
beautiful  prospect  over  the  city  beneath,  and  passed  in  view  of  many  of  the 
country  houses  of  gentlemen  belonging  to  the  city.  I  could  distinctly  ob- 
serve the  wall  and  moat  which  surrounded  the  city ;  though  the  city  has  now 
actually  outgrown  the  military  strait-jacket  by  which  it  was  invested.  Some 
of  the  best  portions  are  without  the  walls. 

After  a  considerable  walk  took  breakfast,  say  at  twelve  o'clock,  —  a  late 
one,  even  for  France;  and  it  was  a  delicious  meal,  with  light  wine  and  coffee 
clear  as  amber.  After  walking  round  the  city,  I  dined  with  Mr.  Emerson  at 
his  house,  whose  acquaintance  I  have  made  through  the  introduction  of  my 
friend  Cleveland.     Our  hour  was  between  six  and  seven  o'clock;  stayed  till 

1  Ralph  Emerson,  an  American  merchant,  then  resident  in  Havre,  now  living  in  San 
Francisco. 


JEt.  26-27.]  HAVRE  TO  ROUEN.  219 

ten  o'clock,  and  then  walked  home  over  the  dirty  and  slippery  streets.  The 
chimes  of  midnight  have  this  moment  sounded  from  some  ancient  steeple; 
and  I  expect  a  pleasant  sleep  in  my  neat  bed,  after  the  confined  quarters  to 
which  I  have  been  doomed  for  so  many  nights. 

The  chief  features  which  I  am  able  to  recognize  as  distinguishing  Havre 
from  an  American  city  are  (1),  antiquity;  (2),  dress  of  women  with  caps  and 
without  bonnets  in  the  street;  (3),  labor  of  women;  (4),  presence  of  the 
military  and  police,  a  soldier  or  policeman  presenting  himself  at  every  tarn; 
(5),  narrowness  and  dirt  of  the  streets;  (6),  houses  of  stone,  and  nairow  and 
chimney-like.  Of  course,  these  are  merely  the  features  which  have  met  the 
eye  during  the  observation  of  a  few  hours. 

Dec.  29,  1837.  New  scenes  have  been  rising  upon  me  with  each  moment; 
I  find  myself  now  with  midnight  at  hand,  and  new  objects  were  breaking 
upon  me  until  I  closed  the  door  of  my  chamber.  I  can  hardly  believe  in  my 
personal  identity.  Such  is  the  intensity  of  my  present  experience,  that  all 
I  have  undergone  to  reach  here  seems  obliterated. 

I  enjoyed  my  first  sleep  ashore  last  night,  in  sheets  of  linen  and  on  a  pn- 
low  of  down,  as  much  as  my  excited  imagination  would  allow,  and  early  in 
the  morning  I  prepared  for  Rouen;  breakfasted  at  nine  o'clock,  at  the  hotel 
where  I  was  stopping,  on  a  mutton  chop,  light  wine,  and  coffee.  Wine  in 
France  appears  to  be  a  drink  as  common  at  breakfast  as  coffee;  and,  from 
the  experience  of  two  days,  I  should  not  feel  disinclined  to  adopt  the  usage. 
I  repaired  to  the  place  of  starting  for  Rouen,  and  fouud  the  diligence  on  the 
point  of  leaving.  My  place,  however,  had  been  secured  on  the  day  before, 
when  I  had  paid  five  francs  as  earnest-money,  or  a  sort  of  pledge,  which  I  was 
to  forfeit  if  I  did  not  present  myself  at  the  proper  time.  As  soon  as  I  arrived 
I  was  addressed  in  the  rapid  French  style,  "  Montez!  montez!  "  and  the  dili- 
gence immediately  started.  I  had  taken  the  place  on  the  top.  My  seat  was 
protected  by  a  heavy  and  cumbersome  covering,  like  that  of  a  chaise,  and  my 
first  desire  was  to  have  that  thrown  back;  but  my  French  vocabulary  would 
not  enable  me  to  express  my  wish,  so  that  I  was  obliged  to  resort  to  the 
universal  language  of  gesture  and  pantomime.  My  desire  being  understood, 
I  was  informed  in  French  that  the  top  should  be  turned  back  when  we 
stopped  to  change  horses.  And  it  was  done.1  ...  I  was  alone  on  top  and 
tried  to  enter  into  conversation  with  le  conducteur.  He  took  me  for  an 
Englishman,  and  sought  to  flatter  me  by  pointing  to  the  Seine,  and  calling 
it  the  Thames.  When  I  undeceived  him,  he  said,  pointing  to  the  snake- 
like stream,  that  it  was  the  Mississippi  of  France.  All  the  while  he  and 
the  postilion  were  whipping  their  scraggy  horses  with  constant  lashes.  It 
was  an  amusing  sight  to  see  the  empressement  with  which  they  applied 
the  lash,  taking  hold  of  the  whip-handle  with  both  hands  and  using  it 
for  several  minutes  together.  There  were  sometimes  five  and  sometimes 
six  horses  to  the  diligence,  —  all  of  them  short  and  thick,  with  rough,  un- 

1  The  diligence  is  described  at  length,  and  particularly  as  "very  much  in  the  shape  of  a 
Boston  Booby-hut  on  runners  in  the  winter." 


220  MEMOIR  OF   CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1837-38. 

combed  manes,  and  tails  tied  up;  a  practice  which  seems  to  be  universal  here 
with  regard  to  horses.  Their  tails  are  not  docked,  but  suffered  to  grow  to 
their  natural  length,  and  then  tied  up  to  about  the  same  shortness  with  the 
docked  tail.  On  our  way  to  Rouen,  which  was  fifty-four  miles,  we  changed 
horses  as  many  as  a  dozen  times.  I  succeeded  on  the  way  so  well  with 
my  little  French  as  to  extract  considerable  information  from  le  conducteur, 
and  also  to  add  to  my  facility  in  the  use  of  the  language.  Now,  indeed,  I 
feel  the  situation  of  a  foreigner,  who  cannot  speak  the  language  of  the  coun- 
try where  he  is.  He  is  cut  off  from  society  and  from  a  great  source  of 
knowledge,  and  his  thoughts  are  all  imprisoned  within  himself.  In  the  few 
hours  during  which  I  have  been  in  France,  my  mind  has  been  chafing  in  the 
chains  by  which  it  is  now  confined.  I  feel  sensibly  the  advantages  which  I 
lose  from  not  being  able  to  speak  the  language,  and  I  feel  mortified  at  being 
restrained  to  the  uttering  of  a  few  sentences,  and  that  in  such  a  stammering 
uncouth  way,  that  the  very  postilion  stares  at  me.  However,  I  shall  not  be 
deterred.  My  rule  is  to  practise  upon  everybody;  to  take  every  opportunity 
to  speak  the  language,  even  if  it  be  but  a  word;  for  every  time  of  trial  gives 
me  assurance,  and  also  adds  to  my  stock  of  words  or  phrases.  Accordingly 
I  did  not  hesitate  all  the  way  from  Havre  to  Rouen  to  interrogate  le  con- 
ducteur  to  the  full  extent  of  my  knowledge ;  and  he  was  pleased  to  endure 
me  with  great  grace. 

The  road  from  Havre  to  Rouen  (the  upper  one)  which  I  travelled  was 
mostly  through  a  level  champaign  country.  It  was  very  smooth,  and  made 
easy  going  for  the  horses  compared  with  our  roads;  though  the  lowness  of  the 
wheels  of  the  diligence,  and  its  general  cumbersomeness,  went  far  to  counter- 
balance the  facilities  of  the  road.  Within  a  few  miles  from  Havre  we  passed 
through  Harfleur,  the  same,  I  suppose,  which  Harry  V.  of  England  besieged. 
It  is  a  small  but  very  ancient  place,  with  streets  so  narrow  that  it  seemed  as 
if  I  could  span  them,  and  surrounded  by  a  decayed  wall  and  moat.  It  was 
the  last  part  of  the  month  of  December,  and  yet  the  plough  and  harrow  were 
seen  constantly  in  the  fields,  and  sheep  grazing,  with  a  shepherd  and  dog  in 
attendance.  How  the  romance  of  poetry  and  bucolics  was  dashed  by  the 
appearance  of  these  men !  Their  flocks  did  not  appear  to  consist  of  more 
than  forty  or  fifty  sheep;  and  they  were  rude-looking  men,  who  lounged 
about  with  a  cane  instead  of  a  shepherd's  crook.  Their  vocation  arises  from 
the  absence  of  fences  to  separate  different  parcels  of  land.  Here  and  there 
you  may  see  a  thin  ridge  or  mound  of  earth,  or  a  hedge,  in  the  neighborhood 
of  a  house,  and  surrounding  some  choice  field;  but  nearly  all  the  lands  are 
without  any  kind  of  fence.  This  gives  the  country  a  very  open  appearance 
to  one  accustomed  to  the  stone  walls  and  rail  fences  of  New  England.  By  the 
wayside  I  constantly  saw  cottages  and  barns  covered  with  thatch,  which  was 
generally  overgrown  with  moss.  The  thatch  appears  to  be  straw  matted  on 
the  roof  quite  thickly.  In  observation  of  the  country,  and  in  reflection 
upon  what  I  saw,  the  time  passed  away  until,  after  descending  a  long  and 
steep  hill,  we  entered  Rouen,  —  time-honored  Rouen.  If  Havre  appeared 
ancient,  what  shall  I  say  of  Rouen?     I  seemed  among  catacombs.     Nothing 


JEt.  26-27.]        THE  CATHEDRAL  AT  ROUEN.  221 

but  the  living  countenances  and  the  merchandise  at  the  windows  appeared 
fresh.1 

Next  took  lodgings  at  the  Hdtel  de  Normandie,  and  dined ;  and  then,  having 
fixed  some  landmarks  in  my  eye,  walked  by  the  lights  of  the  shop  windows 
through  the  principal  streets  of  the  city;  passed  by  two  theatres,  and  about 
eight  o'clock  visited  one  of  them.  My  knowledge  of  French  did  not  serve 
me  so  that  I  was  able  to  take  much  interest  in  the  play ;  and  though  every 
thing  that  I  saw  both  on  and  off  the  stage  had  an  interest  for  me,  yet  it  was 
all  blurred  by  my  ignorance  of  the  language.  The  audience  appeared  very 
respectable.  The  accommodations  were  different,  as  well  as  more  various, 
than  those  in  our  theatres.  Sentinels  were  on  guard  before  the  doors  of 
both  the  theatres.  During  the  play,  I  left  the  house  and  again  wandered 
round  the  city  before  commencing  this  record  of  the  day.  I  must  not  forget 
to  mention  that,  while  we  were  at  dinner,  a  beautiful  girl  entered  the  room 
(there  were  about  eighteen  or  twenty  at  table),  and,  having  first  touched  her 
guitar,  sang  to  its  accompaniment  several  pretty  French  songs,  and  then 
handed  her  little  tin  box  to  each  person  at  the  table.  She  stood  behind  me, 
and  first  presented  her  box  to  me.  I  dropped  into  it  a  few  sous,  and  regarded 
the  whole  scene  as  thoroughly  and  beautifully  characteristic  of  France.  She 
was  listened  to  with  pleasure  and  respect. 

Dec.  30  (Saturday).  A  day  at  Rouen,  the  ancient  capital  of  Normandy; 
and  my  eyes  and  mind  have  been  constantly  on  the  stretch  with  interest  and 
observation.  Shortly  after  breakfast,  in  company  with  a  fellow-traveller,  1 
took  a  commissionnaire,  or  guide,  to  conduct  me  to  the  interesting  objects  in 
the  place.  He  spoke  English,  and,  as  a  resident  of  the  town,  had  a  super- 
ficial acquaintance  with  it;  and  therefore  was  in  a  degree  useful,  though 
afterwards  I  learned  from  examining  the  guide-book  (which  I  should  have 
read  at  first)  that  many  of  his  stories  were  vulgar  errors.  We  first  visited 
the  cathedral,  where  we  spent  about  three  hours :  as  many  weeks  devoted  to 
it  would  leave  its  immense  fund  of  interest  for  the  intelligent  traveller  unex- 
hausted. The  cathedral 2  is  the  great  lion  of  the  north  of  France,  and  is  said 
to  be  the  finest  specimen  of  Gothic  architecture  on  the  Continent.  Cer- 
tainly it  is  immensely  vast  and  elaborate,  transcending  all  that  my  imagina- 
tion had  pictured  as  the  result  of  this  architecture,  The  minuteness  of  the 
workmanship  testifies  that  it  was  done  by  those  who  commanded  hands  for 
labor  with  a  facility  not  unlike  that  which  summoned  the  thousands  of  labor- 
ers who  raised  the  pyramids  of  Egypt.  I  can  hardly  imagine  such  a  work  at 
the  present  day.  No  building,  unless  it  be  Westminster  Abbey,  abounds 
more  in  historical  associations.     Enlarged,  if  not  built,  by  the  ancient  dukes 

1  To  Judge  Story  he  wrote,  Jan.  6,  1838 :  "  The  whole  country  was  full  of  novelty. 
During  the  day  I  was  kept  at  the  highest  pitch  of  excitement,  and  when,  at  dusk,  we 
entered  the  ancient  city  of  Rouen,  it  seemed  as  if  all  the  dreams  of  my  boyhood  were  to  be 
realized."  And  again  of  his  visit  to  the  cathedral  at  Rouen :  "Need  I  tell  you  that  my 
whole  frame  thrilled  with  every  step  and  every  glance  of  my  eye.  I  was  fully  recompensed 
for  the  expense  of  my  journey  and  the  imprisonment  of  a  sea  voyage.  Such  floods  of  feel- 
ing and  reflection  as  were  started  in  my  mind  made  me  forget  all  that  had  passed." 

2  Sumner  visited  Rouen  and  its  cathedral  some  years  afterwards,  March  21  and  22. 1857. 


222  MEMOIR  OF  CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1837-38. 

of  Normandy  anterior  to  the  conquest  of  England,  it  is  the  chosen  place 
where  the  bones  of  many  of  them  repose.  Here  are  the  remains  of  Rollo,  the 
first  duke  of  Normandy  and  the  ancestor  of  the  Conqueror,  and  over  them  a 
monumental  effigy;  of  William  of  the  Long  Sword,  his  son;  of  Henry,  the 
father  of  Coeur  de  Lion;  and  here  the  Lion-heart  itself  was  deposited.  At 
a  later  day,  the  remains  of  the  Duke  of  Bedford  —  the  English  regent  of 
France,  discomfited  by  the  Maid  of  Orleans  —  were  deposited  here ;  and  an 
inscription  behind  the  great  altar  marks  the  spot.  Different  parts,  in  the 
neighborhood  of  altars,  are  occupied  by  inscriptions  and  engraved  effigies  of 
bishops,  archbishops,  cardinals,  and  other  eminent  men,  whose  standing  or 
character  gave  them  admission  after  death  to  this  company.  Over  all  was 
the  vast  Gothic  roof,  stretching  on  with  its  ancient  and  numerous  arches  in 
imposing  perspective;  and  the  light  which  was  shed  upon  this  scene  came 
through  richly  painted  windows,  where  were  martyrdoms  and  sufferings  and 
triumphs,  such  as  the  history  of  Christianity  records.  And  here  was  I,  an 
American,  —  whose  very  hemisphere  had  been  discovered  long  since  the  foun- 
dation of  this  church,  whose  country  had  been  settled,  in  comparison  with 
this  foundation,  but  yesterday,  —  introduced  to  these  remains  of  past  centu- 
ries, treading  over  the  dust  of  archbishops  and  cardinals,  and  standing  before 
the  monuments  of  kings  and  the  founder  of  a  dynasty,  the  greatest  and  best 
established  of  modern  Europe.  Now,  indeed,  may  I  believe  in  antiquity  and 
in  the  acts  which  are  recorded.  Often,  in  fancy,  have  I  doubted  if  such  men 
as  history  mentions  ever  lived  and  did  what  we  are  told  they  did :  if  William 
of  Normandy  actually  conquered  England;  and,  indeed,  if  such  a  place  as 
England  existed  for  him  to  conquer.  But  this  fancy,  this  Pyrrhonism  of  the 
imagination,  is  now  exploded.  These  monuments  and  their  inscriptions,  with 
the  traces  of  centuries  upon  them,  in  this  holy  place,  bear  testimony  to  what 
I  have  read. 

In  this  immense  building  there  are  no  pews,  but  simply  a  few  chairs 
placed  in  the  middle  of  the  church.  Every  thing  is  stone;  the  floor,  the 
pillars,  and  walls  are  all  of  stone.  I  ascended  the  highest  tower,  by  a  wind- 
ing staircase  which  communicated  apparently  with  a  great  number  of  other 
staircases,  all  of  stone,  running  in  every  direction  about  the  tower.  Indeed, 
every  step  that  I  took  showed  the  extent  of  the  building.  From  the  tower  I 
saw  the  palace  of  the  archbishop,  and  his  gardens  beneath ;  besides  looking 
down  completely  upon  the  whole  city  and  the  adjoining  country,  with  the 
Seine  curling  through  the  beautiful  meadows,  green  at  this  very  close  of  the 
month  of  December. 

Next  passed  to  a  building  scarcely  less  interesting  or  ancient,  L'Eglise  de 
St.  Ouen.  Beautiful  rose-painted  windows,  tombs,  and  a  splendid  Gothic 
coup  oVozil  arrested  the  attention.  From  this  we  passed  to  the  adjoining 
building,  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  or  city  hall.  Here  was  the  museum,  a  gallery 
of  paintings  and  statues :  we  hardly  paused  long  enough  fully  to  study  a 
single  picture,  much  less  several  hundred;  and  yet  I  cannot  but  record  the 
admiration,  blind  and  untutored,  which  was  excited  by  this  first  view  of  the 
arts  in  Europe.     In  the  collection,  a  painting  was  pointed  out  as  that  of 


JEt.  26-27.]  ROUEN.  223 

Raphael:  it  was  a  picture  of  the  Mother  of  the  Saviour,  with  the  infant  in 
her  arms ;  it  did  not,  however,  particularly  arrest  my  attention.  From  the 
gallery  we  passed  to  the  library,  consisting  principally  of  the  books  which 
formerly  belonged  to  the  church  and  monastery  of  St.  Ouen.  One  of  the 
books  was  a  show-piece,  very  curious,  being  a  splendid  folio  of  vellum,  splen- 
didly illuminated  and  printed  with  the  pen  by  one  of  the  monks  of  St.  Ouen, 
and  which  cost  him  the  labor  of  thirty  years.  It  was  a  collection,  I  think,  of 
the  music  used  in  the  monastery,  —  a  monument  of  the  time  and  labor  em- 
ployed for  a  trivial  purpose.  Thirty  years  of  time  spent  in  the  manual 
operation  of  making  a  single  copy  of  an  unimportant  work ! 

The  Palais  de  Justice  was  a  very  interesting  building,  —  ancient  and  fin- 
ished with  the  elaborateness  which  seems  to  have  been  lavished  upon  public 
buildings  in  earlier  times.  One  of  the  rooms  was  covered  with  a  ceiling  of 
oak,  which  had  become  black  as  ebony  from  age,  and  was  studded  with 
golden  knobs.  Several  courts  were  in  session;  but  my  guide  could  not 
explain  to  me  about  them,  and  my  knowledge  of  French  was  so  imperfect 
that  I  could  with  difficulty  ascertain  even  the  general  nature  of  the  discussion 
which  was  proceeding.  The  judges  appeared  to  be  numerous ;  in  one  court, 
which  seemed  the  highest,  — perhaps  La  Cour  Royale,  —  there  were  as  many 
as  half  a  dozen,  all  having  a  peculiar  costume,  consisting  of  a  cap,  bands 
round  the  neck,  and  gown.  The  lawyers  wore  gowns  and  caps,  and  the 
dresses  appeared  to  be  different  in  the  different  courts.  In  Paris  I  hope  to 
make  these  matters  more  of  a  study ;  but  at  this  time  my  means  of  getting 
correct  information  were  so  small,  and  my  time  so  limited,  that  I  passed 
to  other  objects,  which  possessed  an  interest  into  which  I  could  more 
readily  enter.  Particularly  among  these  was  the  market-place  in  which  the 
Maid  of  Orleans  was  burnt;1  and  a  building  which  the  Duke  of  Bedford  was 
said  to  have  occupied,  and  which  had  a  beautiful  relievo  on  its  wall  of  the 
meeting  of  Francis  and  Henry  at  the  Field  of  the  Cloth  of  Gold.  Bridges, 
market-places,  &c,  we  visited;  also  we  passed  in  a  narrow  street  the  house 
in  which  Pierre  Corneille  was  born,  on  which  was  printed  in  large  charac- 
ters, La  Maison  du  Grand  Corneille.  It  was  a  tall  and  well-looking  house, 
the  lower  part  of  which,  I  think,  was  occupied  by  a  brazier.  A  beautiful 
bronze  statue  of  Corneille  has  been  quite  recently  erected  by  subscription  on 
one  of  the  bridges.  My  guide  spoke  of  him  as  one  of  the  greatest  men  of 
France:  the  same  in  France,  he  said,  as  that  great  man  that  lived  in  Eng- 
land.   Shakspeare,  I  said.    "  Yes,"  said  he;  "he  died  not  many  years  ago  " ! 

At  dinner  to-day  we  had  the  music  of  the  harp  instead  of  the  guitar,  and 
an  attendant  appeal  to  charity. 

It  seems  that  I  could  spend  months  in  Rouen  and  still  find  interest.  If  I 
had  time  and  fortune  I  should  like,  while  here,  to  read  the  various  histories 
of  this  wonderful  cathedral,  and  master  the  romantic  history  of  Normandy. 
From  Normandy  sprang  the  long  line  of  kings  that  has  governed  England; 
and  here  are  the  tombs  of  the  founders  of  this  dynasty.  Two  of  the  finest 
specimens  of  Gothic  architecture  that  exist  in  Europe  are  here  to  be  seen, 

1  Place  de  la  Pucelle. 


224  MEMOIR  OF  CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1837-38. 

also.  However,  to-morrow  night  is  the  last  on  which  the  "hells"  of  Paris 
are  to  be  open,  they  being  abolished  after  that  time  by  law;  and  I  wish,  if 
possible,  to  see  them,  besides  being  in  Paris  on  New  Year's  Day.  To-morrow, 
therefore,  I  shall  start  for  Paris. 

Dec.  31,  1837.  At  a  quarter  before  seven  o'clock  I  found  myself  in  the 
coupe,  with  a  fellow-passenger  from  America,  and  a  French  lady.  The  apart- 
ment was  small,  being  just  large  enough  for  three  persons  to  sit  snugly.  The 
gray  light  of  morning  was  beginning  to  prevail,  and  as  we  passed  under  the 
towers  of  the  cathedral,  it  seemed  to  invest  them  with  an  additional  air  of 
antiquity.  It  was  not  the  moonlight,  which  struck  through  the  numerous 
trellises  and  interstices,  but  the  dim  light  of  morning,  which  brought  them 
out  by  a  sort  of  relief  against  the  sky.  We  went  at  a  rapid  rate,  the  horses 
galloping  much  of  the  way,  and  the  diligence  having  a  motion  which  I  must 
confess  to  be,  independent  of  the  smoothness  of  the  roads,  remarkably  easy, 
and  very  much  like  that  of  our  rail-cars.  This  easiness  is  caused  chiefly,  I 
think,  by  the  lowness  of  the  springs.  On  the  way  I  taxed  all  my  French  to 
enter  into  conversation  with  the  French  lady;  it  was  commenced  by  my 
inquiring  if  she  would  have  the  windows  open  or  shut.  On  our  making 
known  that  we  were  Americans,  she  inquired  about  our  voyage,  about  the 
commerce  and  manufactures  of  the  country,  and  listened  with  the  politest 
attention  to  all  that  we  said,  and  appeared  to  understand  it.  We  talked  of 
the  cathedral  at  Rouen ;  and  I  told  her  that  our  forests  were  our  cathedrals. 
Our  fair  companion  was  not  yet  beyond  the  age  of  considerable  personal 
attractions.  She  was  our  cicerone  on  the  route,  giving  us  the  names  of  the 
towns  through  which  we  passed,  and  pointing  out  some  of  the  principal 
chateaux.  It  was  Sunday;  and  yet,  as  we  drove  through  the  different  towns, 
we  could  observe  none  of  the  signs  which  mark  this  day  in  New  England. 
Here  "  Sunday  shines  no  Sabbath  day;  "all  things  proceed  as  on  week  days. 
The  roads  were  thronged  with  market  women,  with  their  heavy  burdens;  the 
markets,  through  which  we  passed,  were  full  of  them.  The  shops  were  all 
open;  the  windows  full  of  various  articles,  —  the  baker  rolling  his  bread;  the 
carpenter  at  his  plane;  the  smith  at  his  forge;  the  farrier  shoeing  his  horse. 
Upwards  of  forty  miles  from  Paris  we  saw  one  mark  of  an  approach  to  a 
great  city:  we  there  commenced  with  a  paved  road,  over  which  we  rattled  for 
the  remainder  of  the  way;  entering  Paris  between  seven  and  eight  o'clock 
in  the  evening  by  the  Barriere  du  Roule.1  And  here  I  became  absorbed 
with  wonder  at  the  throbbings  of  this  mighty  heart  of  France.  We  drove 
through  long  streets  with  great  rapidity,  through  which  innumerable  other 
vehicles  were  driving  with  the  same  rapidity,  building  after  building  burst- 
ing upon  us,  and  long  lines  of  splendid  shops,  until  at  last  we  were  landed 
at  the  bureau  of  all  the  Messageries  Royales  of  France,  —  the  focus  of 
all  the  diligences  from  every  quarter,  situated  in  the  Rue  des  Victoires. 
Here  our  baggage  was  inspected  by  an  officer  of  the  police.  We  gave  our 
trunks  to  porters,  who,  by  means  of  a  sort  of  rack,  took  them,  large  and 

1  Situated  at  the  intersection  of  the  Rue  du  Faubourg  Sainte  Honore*  and  the  Avenue  de 
Wagram. 


JEt.  26-27.]  FIRST  EVENING  IN  PARIS.  2&> 

heavy  as  they  were,  on  their  backs  to  the  Hotel  Montmorency,  Boulevard 
Montmartre  No.  12. 

Dinner  despatched,  I  went  about  ten  o'clock  to  Frascati's,  —  the  great 
"  hell  "  of  Paris.  By  law  all  public  gaming-houses  are  forbidden  after  the 
first  of  January,  which  commences  this  midnight.  Passing  through  an  out- 
side court,  and  then  a  short  entry,  we  entered  an  antechamber,  where  there 
were  a  large  number  of  servants  in  livery  who  received  our  hats  and  out- 
side garments,  no  one  being  allowed  to  enter  the  gambling  salons  with  either. 
The  hats  already  hanging  up  and  in  the  custody  of  the  servants  seemed 
innumerable,  and  yet  the  servants  had  no  numbers  or  marks  by  which  to 
indicate  to  whom  each  hat  belonged;  trusting  entirely  to  recollecting  the 
countenance.  The  door  of  the  salon  was  then  opened ;  and  the  first  table  of 
gamblers  was  before  us,  —  men  young,  middle-aged,  and  old;  with  the  bloom 
of  youth  yet  mantling  on  the  face,  and  with  the  wrinkles  and  gray  hairs  of  age. 
This  table  was  a  roulette,  I  believe.  It  was  about  the  size  of  a  common  bil- 
liard table,  and  it  was  completely  surrounded  by  a  double  and  triple  row  of 
persons ;  the  first  row  sitting,  and  the  others  standing.  Among  those  sitting 
were  two  or  three  women  of  advanced  age ;  and  moving  about  the  room  were 
several  younger,  undoubtedly  Cyprians,  possessing  considerable  personal 
attractions.  Passing  into  the  next  salon  through  an  open  door,  we  found  a 
larger  table,  with  players  more  intent  and  more  numerous,  where  the  game 
turned  upon  cards.  The  silver  and  gold  spread  on  the  table  was  to  a  vast 
amount;  and  I  saw  one  man,  with  a  lip  that  quivered  and  a  hand  that  trem- 
bled, stake  his  double  handful  of  gold  on  a  single  throw,  —  amounting  to 
many  hundred  dollars.  Little  wooden  rakes  or  hoes  were  used  to  draw  the 
money  in.  The  third  salon  had  a  table  where  the  chance  turned  upon  dice. 
It  was  a  scene  which  I  am  glad  to  have  witnessed.  The  excitements  of  gam- 
bling have  been  said  to  be  strong;  and  I  can  understand  how  persons  have 
been  drawn  by  its  fascinations  within  its  terrible  maelstrom.  They  try  once 
for  experiment,  and  are  seduced  by  a  momentary  success,  or  excited  by  a 
loss,  and  observing  others,  perhaps,  winning  large  sums,  they  are  finally 
absorbed  in  the  whirling  vortex.  Several  of  the  friends  that  I  went  with 
ventured  several  francs,  and  alternately  lost  and  won.  I  am  free  to  confess 
that  I  felt  the  temptation,  but  I  restrained  my  hand.  To-night  being  the  last 
night,  the  rooms  were  very  full,  the  gamblers  wishing  to  have  their  last  game. 
We  left  sometime  before  midnight,  thinking  that  there  might  be  some  dis- 
turbance at  that  time,  when  the  transforming  wand  of  the  law  would  exercise 
its  power.  I  however  walked  the  boulevards,  which  were  splendidly  illu- 
minated by  the  shop  windows  till  long  after  midnight,  as  well  as  thronged  by 
people;  and  at  twelve  o'clock  I  stood  before  Frascati's.  The  people  were 
retiring  from  within,  and  as  the  women  came  out  they  were  subjected  to  the 
sneers  aad  jeers  of  a  considerable  crowd  who  had  collected  in  the  street  about 
the  gateway.  A  few  of  the  police  were  present,  who  at  once  interfered  to  pre- 
vent the  uproar;  and  in  a  few  minutes  three  horsemen  rode  into  the  crowd, 
and  speedily  dispersed  them.  Such  was  the  last  night  of  Frascati,  and  my 
first  night  in  Paris. 

vol.  i.  15 


226  MEMOIR    OF   CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1838. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

PARIS.  — ITS   SCHOOLS.— JANUARY  AND  FEBRUARY,  1838.— AGE,  27. 

r^VURING  his  first  week  in  Paris,  Sumner  found  no  time  to 
*-**  continue  his  journal.  "  In  this  hasty  diary,"  he  wrote,  a 
few  weeks  later,  "  there  is  no  memorial  of  my  first  week.  Suffice 
it  to  say  that  I  was  kept  in  such  an  intoxicating  whirl  by  the 
novelty  which  every  thing  had  for  my  eyes,  and  every  moment 
of  my  time  was  so  intensely  occupied,  that  I  found  not  a  fraction 
for  this  record.  Of  the  letters  which  I  brought  to  Paris  I  pre- 
sented but  few,  feeling  my  utter  incompetence  for  any  French 
intercourse  from  my  ignorance  of  the  language." 

His  first  call  was  upon  Foelix,1  the  editor  of  the  Revue  Etran- 
gere, with  whom  he  had,  before  leaving  home,  exchanged  letters. 
With  him  Sumner  maintained,  while  in  Paris,  the  most  cordial 
relations.  Foelix,  by  the  place  of  his  birth  and  early  life  which 
had  passed  from  one  sovereignty  to  another,  combined  in  himself, 
as  it  were,  two  nationalities,  —  the  German  and  the  French.  He 
was  cosmopolitan  in  his  learning  and  sympathies,  and  studied 
jurisprudence  as  a  science.  He  had  a  large  acquaintance  with 
contemporary  savans,  and  in  conversation  spoke  unreservedly 
of  their  merits  or  pretensions.  He  was  not  above  the  every- 
day services  which  are  invaluable  to  a  foreign  student  not  yet 
familiar  with  the  country,  its  language,  teachers,  and  authors. 
Sumner  visited  him  freely,  and  seems  to  have  regarded  him, 
while  in  Paris,  very  much  as  he  had  regarded  Lieber  at  home. 

1  Jean  Jacques  Gaspard  Foelix,  1791-1853.  He  was  born  in  the  Electorate  of  Treves, 
and  began,  in  1814,  the  practice  of  the  law  at  Coblentz.  Upon  the  transfer  of  the  Rhenish 
provinces  from  France  to  Germany,  which  soon  followed,  he  had  occasion  to  deal  with 
questions  involving  a  conflict  between  German  law  and  the  French  code.  He  was  thus  led 
to  the  study  of  comparative  jurisprudence,  — a  department  in  which  he  excelled  all  his  con- 
temporaries. Removing  to  Paris  in  1826,  and  naturalized  asa  French  citizen  in  1829,  he 
founded,  in  1833,  the  Revue  Etrangere  de  Legislation  et  d' Economie  Politique;  the  name 
of  which  was,  in  1840,  changed  to  the  Revue  Etrangere  et  Franqaise  de  Legislation,  de  Juiis- 
pi°udence,  et  d'  Economie  Politique :  aided  by  associates,  he  conducted  this  Review  till  1850. 
He  was  the  author  of  a  treatise  on  the  "Conflict  of  Laws"  (Traite  du  Droit  International 
Prive). 


.Et.  27.]  FOELIX  OF  THE   "  REVUE  ETRANGERE."  227 

He  was  also  indebted  to  Foelix  for  a  personal  introduction  to 
Pardessus.  Of  comparative  jurisprudence,  which  was  the  spe- 
cialty of  Foelix,  Sumner  spoke,  some  years  afterwards,  as  "  kin- 
dred to  those  other  departments  of  knowledge  which  exhibit  the 
relations  of  the  human  family,  and  show  that  amidst  diversity 
there  is  unity."  1 

In  a  letter  to  Judge  Story,  Jan.  21,  he  wrote  of  his  first  call 
on  Foelix :  — 

In  No.  7  Rue  de  Verneuil,  Foelix,  with  two  maiden  sisters,  occupied  an 
apartment  on  what  we  should  call  the  second  floor.  On  being  shown  into 
the  room  of  the  learned  Pundit,  I  summoned  all  my  French,  and  asked, 
"  Est-ce  Monsieur  Foelix,  que  fai  Vhonneur  de  voir?  "  to  which  he  replied  in 
the  affirmative.  I  then  said,  "  Je  m'appelle  Charles  Sumner."  His  reply  con- 
vinced me  that  I  had  pronounced  my  French  so  badly  that  he  did  not  under- 
stand me,  for  he  inquired  if  I  had  seen  Mr.  Sumner  lately.  Then  ensued  a 
series  of  contretemps.  He  did  not  speak  a  word  of  English ;  and  my  French 
was  no  more  fit  for  use  than  a  rusty  gun-barrel,  or  than  the  law  of  a  retired 
barrister.  Then  came  to  our  assistance  his  sister,  —  a  lady,  say  thirty-five  or 
forty.  She  knew  English  so  as  to  speak  it  pretty  well,  though  rather  pain- 
fully. With  her  as  interpreter,  I  made  known  who  I  was,  whence  I  came, 
&c.  I  presented  my  letters  and  answered  Foelix's  inquiries,  particularly 
with  regard  to  you.  I  very  soon  found,  however,  that  our  mutual  ignorance 
of  any  language  which  could  serve  as  a  medium  for  conversation  would  render 
our  intercourse  of  but  little  interest  for  the  present.  Foelix  is  a  German  by 
birth,  you  know,  and  retains  those  national  features  which  have  continued 
from  the  time  of  Tacitus.  He  is  about  the  size  of  Dr.  Follen,  only  somewhat 
stouter,  with  hair  on  his  head  quite  thin  but  not  gray.  I  should  call  him 
fifty-five  years  old.  He  is  not  a  man  of  the  world  or  of  dress,  but  he  is  ab- 
sorbed in  his  Review,  upon  which  he  works  very  hard,  and  seems  full  of  the 
dignity  and  importance  of  his  vocation.  In  his  study,  or  office,  which  is  a 
room  about  as  large  as  your  parlor,  sat  his  eldest  sister  busily  engaged  in 
copying  papers.  I  have  understood  that  she  is  a  perfect  lawyer,  having  dili- 
gently read  all  the  codes ;  and  that  she  assists  him  very  much  in  his  Review. 
J  was  amused  at  the  interest  which  he  took  in  having  me  economically  estab- 
lir.hed.  When  I  informed  him  where  my  lodgings  were,  —  being  in  one  of 
the  hotels  on  the  boulevards,  —  he  expressed  an  orthodox  German  horror,  and 
told  me  I  must  abandon  them  immediately ;  and  he  assisted  me  in  getting 
lodgings  on  the  same  side  of  the  river  with  himself.  I  have  changed  again 
since  he  established  me,  and  am  now  in  the  same  house  with  George  Shattuck.2 
You  may  be  glad  to  hear  that  he  is  doing  more  honor  to  himself  and  his 
country  than  any  other  young  American  has  done  since  James  Jackson.8 

i  Works,  Vol.  I.  p.  270. 

2  Dr.  George  C.  Shattuck,  a  physician  of  Boston,  always  a  valued  friend  of  Sumner. 
They  were  fellow-students  in  college,  and  also  in  the  Law  School. 

8  A  young  physician  of  Boston,  who,  after  professional  studies  in  Paris,  died  in  1834, 
soon  after  his  return  home. 


228  MEMOIR   OF  CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1838. 

Travel  and  residence  abroad  have  had  their  best  influence  upon  him.  .  .  . 
Have  you  read  Tocqueville's  "  Democracy  in  America  "? 

During  his  first  two  months  in  Paris,  Sumner  employed  his 
time  almost  solely  in  acquiring  the  capacity  to  speak  the  French 
language.  He  had  studied  it  in  college,  but  could  not  use  it  in 
conversation.  Repeatedly,  in  his' journal  and  letters,  he  lamented 
this  deficiency  in  his  education.  To  Hillard  he  wrote,  Jan.  6 : 
"  I  shall  renounce  every  thing  until  I  learn  to  speak  French. 
To  that  my  first  labors  must  be  devoted.  Think  of  me  com- 
ing by  childlike  progression  to  the  use  of  my  tongue,  hearing 
sounds  which  convey  no  idea,  and  thus,  in  a  degree,  debarred 
from  the  society  and  scenes  of  this  great  metropolis."  Most  of 
the  time  he  took  lessons  of  two  teachers ;  he  became  a  subscriber 
at  Galignani's  reading-room;  frequented  theatres,  following  the 
actors  with  the  printed  play  before  him ;  and  attended  lectures, 
not  merely  those  which  treated  of  his  favorite  studies,  but  those 
also  which  related  to  other  departments,  in  order  to  become 
familiar  with  the  sounds  of  the  language.  He  postponed  visits 
to  places  of  interest,  and  abstained  from  society,  until  he  had 
overcome  the  difficulty  which  he  so  much  deplored.  His  perse- 
verance met  with  a  success  which  highly  gratified  him.  When 
he  arrived  in  Paris,  he  could  understand  hardly  a  sentence  in 
French  when  spoken  to  him.  In  less  than  a  month  he  could 
follow  a  lecturer ;  in  six  weeks  participate  in  conversation ;  and 
at  the  end  of  three  months  he  served  as  interpreter  before  a 
magistrate  on  the  examination  of  a  fellow-countryman. 

Of  the  one  hundred  and  fifty  or  more  lectures  which  he  at- 
tended, nearly  all  were  given  by  professors  eminent  in  their 
respective  departments,  —  as  Rossi,  Ampere,  Lenormant,  Biot, 
Jouffroy,  Dumas,  and  Saint- Marc  Girardin.  In  the  hospitals  he 
saw  Roux,  Louis,  Dubois,  and  Cloquet,  attending  to  patients  and 
followed  by  students.  At  the  theatres  and  opera  he  saw  and 
heard  Mars,  Georges,  De*jazet,  Rubini,  Tamburini,  Lablache, 
Persiani,  and  Grisi ;  in  the  church,  Coquerel ;  and  in  the  Cham- 
bers of  Peers  and  Deputies,  Dupin,  Berryer,  Guizot,  Thiers, 
Odilon  Barrot,  Arago,  and  Lamartine. 

During  his  sojourn  in  Paris,  he  wrote  fully  of  his  experiences  to 
Judge  Story,  Hillard,  Greenleaf,  Longfellow,  Felton,  Cleveland, 
Charles  S.  Daveis,  Dr.  Lieber,  and  William  W.  Story.  Most  of 
these  letters,  as  well  as  some  to  his  family,  are  preserved,  —  from 


Mt.  27.]  LODGINGS.  229 

which  extracts,  in  connection  with  the  journal,  will  be  given .  One 
remarks,  in  reading  his  letters,  how  warm  was  his  affection  for 
his  friends,  and  how  much  he  craved  tidings  from  them.  He 
wrote  to  Hillard,  Jan.  6 :  "I  do  not  forget  you  and  our  4 Five 
of  Clubs  '  on  this  my  birthday.  I  wish  that  we  could  all  meet 
this  evening  and  renew  old  scenes  and  recollections."  And  to 
Judge  Story,  Feb.  7 :  "It  is  now  two  months  since  I  left  the 
United  States,  and  when  I  consider  what  I  have  seen,  and  the 
new  impressions  I  have  received,  it  seems  like  two  years.  The 
time  is  lengthened  by  another  consideration,  —  the  sense  of 
my  solitude,  and  the  cessation  of  intercourse  with  those  friends 
to  whom  I  am  so  tenderly  attached.  Give  me  letters  !  A  cup  of 
water  was  never  more  inspiriting  to  the  battle-worn  soldier  than 
is  a  letter  to  me  at  this  distance  from  friends." 

JOURNAL. 

Jan.  8, 1838  (Monday).  This  morning  went  to  lodgings  on  the  other  side 
of  the  river,  No.  3  Rue  St.  Dominique.  I  am  now  in  a  quiet  apartment  in  a 
quiet  part  of  the  town,  distant  from  the  attractions  of  the  boulevards,  and 
hope  to  be  able  to  devote  myself  to  the  study  of  French.  In  the  house  where 
my  chambers  are  there  is  a  table  d'hote,  at  which  I  expected  to  meet  French- 
men alone.  I  had  desired  to  place  myself  where  I  should  hear  French  and 
nothing  else,  and  be  compelled,  if  I  wished  to  break  silence  at  all,  to  express 
myself  in  this  language.  But  a  young  man,  prepossessing  in  his  appearance, 
was  by  my  side,  who  at  once  confessed  that  he  was  an  Englishman,  or  rather 
of  the  Isle  of  Jersey,  and  an  attendant  upon  the  law  lectures  in  the  iCcole  de 
Droit.  Conversation  with  him  for  a  while  distracted  my  attention,  so  that 
but  little  of  it  was  given  to  the  French  that  was  rapidly  passing  from  the 
various  mouths  about  me.  The  little  intercourse  which  I  have  had  with  him 
gives  promise  of  an  amiable  companion,  but  I  fear  may  impair  some  of  the 
advantages  which  I  looked  for  in  my  present  quarters.  For  my  room,  which 
has  a  large  closet  or  cabinet,  and  another  cabinet  in  which  the  bed  is  placed,  I 
have  engaged  to  give  seventy  francs  per  month.  The  dinner  at  the  table 
d'hote  is  thirty-five  sous.  Ordinary  Burgundy  wine  is  supplied  and  included 
in  this  price.  Every  French  dinner  begins  with  soup;  and  at  my  place  about 
four  other  dishes  followed,  with  cheese  and  nuts  afterwards.  The  whole, 
however,  was  quite  unlike  the  repasts  which  I  have  had  in  the  cafes  and 
restaurants  on  the  boulevards,  and  in  the  Hotel  Montmorency. 

Among  the  means  which  I  hope  to  use  for  instruction  in  French  is  the 
theatre;  and  I  went  to-night,  for  the  first  time  at  Paris,  in  company  with  my 
young  acquaintance  at  the  table.  I  went  to  the  old  and  famous  Theatre 
Fran^ais.  There  were  two  plays  of  five  acts  each;  one,  Ulnconnu,  or,  Mis- 
anthropic et  Repentir,  derived  from  the  drama  of  Kotzebue,  which  was  the 
foundation  of  the  English  play  of  the  "  Stranger;  "  and  the  other,  UAvare, 


230  MEMOIR  OF   CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1838. 

in  five  acts,  of  Moliere.  I  had  a  seat  in  the  parterre,  or  pit,  which  cost 
two  francs'  and  twenty  centimes;  and  also  bought  at  the  door  copies  of 
the  two  plays,  for  which  I  paid  a  franc  each.  With  these  I  endeavored 
to  follow  the  different  performers.  It  was  not  a  little  difficult;  they  spoke, 
as  it  seemed,  with  such  lightning  rapidity;  and,  before  the  ten  acts  of  the 
evening  were  performed,  my  eyes  and  attention  had  become  quite  weary. 
We  left  the  theatre  as  the  curtain  fell  and  passed  out  between  two  soldiers 
at  the  door,  and  encountered  sentinels  every  few  rods.  It  was  bitter  cold, 
reminding  me  of  the  weather  which  I  have  left  behind;  yet  these  men, 
with  their  cold  muskets,  were  pacing  over  the  short  spaces  of  their  watch, 
some  of  them,  I  observed,  without  the  protection  of  a  cloak  or  outer  gar- 
ment; but  the  greater  part  with  a  heavy  cloak,  to  which  was  attached  a 
sort  of  hood  that  protected  the  head.  As  we  passed  through  the  Place  du 
Carrousel,  and  in  front  of  the  Tuileries,  we  observed  this  royal  residence 
splendidly  lighted  from  end  to  end,  and  sentinels  on  the  watch  about  it 
at  all  points.  The  Theatre  Frangais,  where  I  have  been  this  evening,  is 
supported  by  the  government  at  a  considerable  expense,  and  is  the  place 
where  the  classical  drama  of  France  is  generally  enacted.  One  may  see 
Moliere  and  Corneille  here.  The  house  is  about  the  size  of  the  Tremont 
House.  The  scenery  did  not  strike  me  as  at  all  better  than  that  of  American 
theatres.  The  curtain  did  not  fall  between  the  acts,  and  there  was  no  change 
of  scenery  to-night  from  one  end  of  each  play  to  the  other;  a  new  scene  was 
occasioned  simply  by  one  of  the  persons  on  the  stage  making  his  exit,  or  a 
new  one  his  entrance. 

Jan.  9.  To-day  commenced  reading  and  conversing  in  French  with  Mad- 
ame Laboust,  —  an  English  lady  who  has  lived  in  France  fifteen  years,  and, 
I  believe,  is  the  widow  of  a  French  officer. 

Jan.  10.  This  morning  had  a  lesson  or  conversation  with  my  teacher; 
and  after  breakfast  went,  with  my  friend  Shattuck,  to  visit  some  of  the  inter- 
esting objects  of  Le  Pays  Latin,  as  the  district  of  the  schools  is  called,  and 
entered  the  ficole  de  Medecine,  and  the  Musee  Dupuytren.  Thence  I  passed 
to  the  Sorbonne,  entering  only  the  court-yard  of  this  ancient  and  famous  seat 
of  science  and  learning,  and  to  the  old  church  of  St.  liltienne.  We  next 
passed  to  the  Bibliotheque  de  St.  Genevieve,  a  large  library,  containing  up- 
wards of  two  hundred  thousand  volumes  and  thirty  thousand  manuscripts,  — • 
like  every  thing  in  Paris  open  to  the  public.  We  entered  without  ticket  or 
introduction  of  any  kind,  and  yet  without  let  or  hindrance.  A  long  table 
was  surrounded  by  readers  and  students,  who  had  the  use  of  books  innumer- 
able, for  the  asking.  What  is  authorship?  Here  are  two  hundred  thousand 
volumes.  Who  knows  the  names  of  the  wise  and  learned  and  laborious  who 
built  on  them  confident  hopes  of  immortality  on  earth?  The  pages  of  an 
unread  catalogue  are  the  only  roll  of  fame  on  which  most  of  their  names  are 
inscribed ;  and  dust  gathers  over  the  leaves  of  the  works  on  which  long  lives 
have  been  consumed.  It  seems  like  passing  through  tombs  and  a  city  of  the 
dead,  to  walk  through  a  large  library;  for  here  how  many  aspirations,  — proud 
and  high-reaching  as  the  stars,  — hopes,  and  longings  lie  buried!     From  thia 


JEt.  27.]  ROSSI  AT  THE  ECOLE  DE  DROIT.  231 

library  we  passed  by  the  Pantheon,  the  depository  of  the  dust  of  the  great 
men  of  France,  without  however  going  in,  and  entered  the  Ecole  de  Droit. 
After  wandering  round  the  corridors  of  the  spacious  building  for  some  time, 
after  inquiry  we  found  ourselves  in  the  lecture-room  of  Rossi,1  who,  accord- 
ing to  the  programme,  lectured  upon  Droit  Const itutionnel  Francais.  The 
lecture-room  was  in  the  shape  of  an  amphitheatre,  the  professor's  chair  being 
in  the  chord  of  the  arc  which  formed  the  room.  The  seats  of  the  hearers 
were  semi-circular  and  without  backs.  I  should  think  there  were  as  many 
as  one  hundred  and  fifty  hearers  of  all  ages  present,  many  of  them  too  old 
for  students.  By  far  the  larger  part  appeared  very  attentive,  and  took  ample 
notes;  having  a  little  portfolio  for  the  purpose,  in  which  a  certain  quantity  of 
paper  was  fastened,  and  also  a  small  inkstand.  The  professor  sat  while  lect- 
uring, and  appeared  to  have  a  fluent  and  interesting  manner,  though  not  at 
all  elegant.  He  was  dressed  in  a  black  gown,  with  a  scarf  of  red  over  his 
shoulders,  and  a  high,  found,  red  cap  of  cloth.  I  was  at  some  distance  from 
him,  and  hardly  within  the  range  of  his  voice;  but  I  did  not  understand  fully 
a  single  sentence  that  he  uttered,  though  I  was  able  to  catch  many  detached 
words  and  phrases  here  and  there.  The  lecture  did  not  continue  more  than 
fifteen  or  twenty  minutes  after  I  entered;  and  the  moment  the  professor 
closed  his  lecture  he  jumped  from  his  seat,  and,  without  so  much  of  a  "  good- 
by  "  to  his  audience  as  an  oath  (according  to  the  jeu  d'esprit  about  Lord 
Thurlow),  hastily  left  the  room.  Rossi  appeared  to  be  about  forty  years  old. 
He  is  an  Italian  by  birth,  and  is  one  of  the  most  celebrated  of  the  professors. 
He  is  also  the  author  of  several  volumes  of  law,  which  have  met  with  consid- 
erable success.  This  short  incursion  into  the  quarter  of  the  lectures  and 
schools  admonishes  me  of  the  great  fund  of  interest  which  exists  there.  Here 
are  lectures  at  every  hour  of  every  day  on  every  part  of  science,  literature, 
and  law,  which  may  be  attended  gratis.  And  the  buildings  and  streets  in 
this  vicinity  are  marked  by  great  antiquity  and  historical  association.  The 
Pantheon  and  the  Sorbonne  are  within  a  stone's  throw  of  each  other. 

I  kept  at  home  this  evening,  studying  my  French  grammar.  Received  a 
card  to-day  from  Mrs.  Cass,  informing  me  that,  in  consequence  of  the  ball 
at  the  Tuileries  this  evening,  her  soiree  would  be  postponed  from  to-night  to 
the  next  Wednesday.  If  it  had  been  to-night,  I  should  not  have  gone.  I 
feel  unwilling  to  go  anywhere  till  I  know  more  of  the  language  which  I  hear 
about  me.  I  feel  tempted  to  follow  the  example  of  the  ancient,  and  shave 
one  side  of  my  head,  so  that  I  may  be  restrained  from  showing  myself  abroad. 

Jan.  11  (Thursday).     Yesterday  I  attended  a  lecture  which  was  open 

l  Count  Pellegrino  Luigi  Odoardo  Rossi  was  born  at  Carrara,  July  13,  1787.  He  was  at 
first  a  lawyer  at  Bologna,  but  went  to  Geneva,  in  1814,  where  he  became  a  professor  of  law  ; 
published  a  treatise  on  the  "Penal  Law;"  was  associated  with  Sismondi  in  publishing 
"  Annals  of  Legislation  and  Political  Economy;  "  and  was  a  member  of  the  Diet  and  Coun- 
cil. Removing  to  Paris,  in  1832,  he  was  appointed  Professor  of  Political  Economy  in  the 
College  of  France;  and,  in  1834,  Professor  of  Constitutional  Law.  He  became  the  political 
associate  of  Guizot  and  the  Due  de  Broglie,  and  was  made  a  peer  of  France  and  a  member  of 
the  Council  of  State.  From  1845,  when  he  was  sent  as  ambassador  to  Rome,  until  his  death, 
he  remained  in  Italy,  taking  part  in  political  movements ;  though  at  one  time  in  retirement 
at  Carrara.    While  the  Pope's  chief  minister,  he  was  assassinated,  Nov.  15,  1848. 


232  MEMOIR  OF    CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1838. 

to  all  who  chose  to  attend.  To-day  I  spent  several  hours  in  another 
place  presenting  interests  of  a  different  kind,  but  open  gratis  to  the  citizen 
and  stranger.  This  was  at  the  Museums  of  the  Louvre,  —  a  royal  palace,  and 
truly  royal  it  is,  converted  into  a  receptacle  for  collections  of  paintings,  an- 
tiquities, and  curiosities.  I  had  not  been  there  before,  as  my  time  had  been 
so  much  occupied  by  some  necessary  arrangements  for  my  sojourn  in  Paris.  I 
had  often  read  and  heard  of  the  Louvre,  but  I  had  no  adequate  idea  of  its  vast- 
ness,  or  of  the  extent  of  its  collections.  '  Here  were  upwards  of  three  thousand 
pictures,  of  the  French,  Dutch,  German,  and  Italian  schools,  —  with  a  Span- 
ish gallery  also,  which  was  just  opened, ; —  containing  numerous  productions  of 
the  first  masters,  Raphael,  Leonardo  da  Vinci,  Rubens,  Caracci,  Murillo,  &c. 
A  portion  of  these  galleries  was  open  to  all,  both  citizens  and  strangers, 
without  question  of  any  kind.  At  what  is  called  the  long  gallery,  how- 
ever, containing  the  principal  collection  of  paintings,  strangers  were  required 
to  exhibit  their  passports  and  sign  their  names  in  a  book  preserved  at  the 
porter's  lodge.  In  this  gallery  numerous  artists,  many  of  them  women,  were 
employed  in  making  copies  of  the  paintings,  liberty  being  always  given  for 
this  purpose  on  proper  application.  I  will  not  here  record  the  impressions 
produced  on  my  mind  by  the  sight  of  this  magnificent  palace  and  its  numer- 
ous apartments  devoted  to  such  purposes.  I  passed  through  all  the  rooms,  — 
those  of  painting,  antiquity,  designs,  and  of  the  marine,  — taking  merely  a 
hasty  coup  d'ceil  of  the  varied  scene,  and  reserving  for  subsequent  visits 
a  more  minute  examination. 

Jan.  12.  Went  again  to  the  scene  of  lectures.  At  the  Sorbonne,  heard 
Geoff  roy  Saint-Hilaire 1  on  natural  history;  he  appeared  to  be  consider- 
ing the  subject  of  comparative  anatomy.  He  was  a  man  apparently  about 
thirty-five  years  of  age,  not  over-careful  in  dress ;  in  manner  earnest  and  ap- 
parently interesting.  The  room  in  which  he  lectured  was  similar  in  size  and 
shape  to  the  old  Circuit-Court  room2  at  Boston,  and  the  professor's  tribune 
not  unlike  the  bench  of  the  judge.  He  sat  during  his  lecture,  as  have  all 
the  professors  whom  I  have  heard;  and  his  audience  (the  greater  part  of 
them)  kept  their  hats  on.  Many  of  them  were  men  considerably  advanced, 
certainly  beyond  the  age  of  students.  At  the  Sorbonne  I  also  heard  Con- 
stant Prevost 3  on  geology,  and  Lenormant  on  ancient  history.  The  former 
lectured  in  the  same  room  that  had  been  occupied  by  Geoifroy  Saint-Hilaire. 
He  appeared  to  be  about  forty-five  years  old,  and  was  a  pleasant  lecturer. 
The  room  was  full,  and  many  were  taking  notes.  I  forgot  to  mention  that 
when  Saint-Hilaire  closed  his  lecture  there  was  applause  by  stamping  the 
feet.     Lenormant 4  lectured  instead   of   Guizot,  who  has  become  absorbed 

1  1805-1861.    Author  of  works  on  zoology,  and  son  of  the  naturalist  of  the  same  name. 

2  The  United  States  Circuit-Court  room,  formerly  in  the  Com-t  House  in  Court  Square. 
8  1787-1856. 

4  Charles  Lenormant  was  born  in  Paris,  June  1, 1802,  and  died  in  Athens,  Nov.  24,  1859. 
He  accompanied,  in  1828,  the  younger  Champollion  to  Egypt;  was  chosen,  in  1835,  Guizot's 
substitute  (suj)pleant)  in  the  professorship  of  History,  and  in  1848  Professor  of  Egyptology, 
in  the  College  of  France.  He  was  learned  in  antiquities,  particularly  the  Asiatic.  His  wife 
was  the  niece  of  Madame  Rdeamier,  of  whose  ''  Memoirs  "  she  is  the  author. 


JEt.  27.1  MADEMOISELLE  MARS.  233 

in  politics,  and  thus  lost  to  his  professorship.  He  was  a  spruce-looking  man, 
with  well-adjusted  hair,  a  neat  coat,  pantaloons,  and  boots,  to  say  nothing  of 
the  fresh  hat  in  his  hands  as  he  entered  the  room.  The  attendant  had  placed 
a  decanter  of  water,  a  tumbler,  and  some  pieces  of  white  sugar  on  the  table 
before  he  entered;  and  his  first  act  was  to  prepare  a  drink,  which  is  very 
common  in  France,  from  a  combination  of  these.  While  lecturing  he  stirred 
his  water  and  sugar,  and  occasionally  moistened  his  lips.  His  subject  was 
Sidon,  and  its  commercial  prosperity.  He  had  notes  before  him,  and  a  black- 
board behind  him  on  which  he  chalked  some  dates  showing  the  contempo- 
raneousness of  Sidon  with  the  Jewish  government.  Constant  Prevost  also 
used  notes  for  his  lecture.  Saint-Hilaire  did  not  appear  to  have  any.  Un- 
like the  professors  at  the  ficole  de  Droit,  those  of  the  Sorbonne  whom  I  have 
seen  had  no  dress  or  badge,  except  a  piece  of  red  ribbon  in  one  of  the  upper 
button-holes  on  the  left  lapel  of  their  coats.  At  the  I^cole  de  Droit  to-day  I 
heard  Delzers1  on  Prdcedure  Civile.  He  was  a  man  with  hard  feature?,  of 
about  fifty-five  years  of  age,  and  with  the  black  gown,  red  scarf,  and  red  cap 
which  I  had  before  observed  as  the  garb  of  Rossi.  His  manner  was  very 
plain  and  deliberate.  He  read  an  article  in  the  code,  having  the  book  before 
him,  and  then  proceeded  in  a  plain  way  to  expound  it.  In  the  course  of  an 
hour  he  expounded  about  a  page  of  the  code,  relating  to  the  formalities  of 
recording  the  judgment.  I  was  happy  to  find  that  I  could  understand  nearly 
all  that  he  said,  as  I  could  a  good  deal  of  what  the  other  lecturers  said 
to-day.  This  is  to  me  an  encouraging  sign  that  I  am  gradually  acquiring 
a  French  ear. 

This  evening  went  to  the  Theatre  Odeon  to  see  Moliere's  Les  Femmes 
Savantes,  and  Mademoiselle  Mars  in  the  part  of  Henriette ;  and  the  evening 
was  a  feast.  I  had  previously  prepared  myself  by  reading  the  play,  and  I 
also  carried  a  copy  with  me,  by  means  of  which  I  followed  the  actors  easily 
through  the  whole  of  this  brilliant  production.  Mars  2  is  now  nearly  sixty, 
and  yet  she  had  the  appearance  of  thirty.  Her  voice  was  clear  as  silver  and 
exquisitely  modulated,  and  her  movement  on  the  stage  thoroughly  graceful. 
I  have  seen  no  performance,  by  any  actor,  which  was  so  eminently  pretty  and 
graceful  as  that  of  this  evening  by  Mars:  the  part  did  not  call  out  those 
stronger  traits  which  she  is  said  to  possess.  The  poetry  of  Moliere  fell  from 
her  lips  with  honeyed  accents,  and  all  the  players  did  well;  there  was  noth- 
ing bad.  After  this  play,  Mars  appeared  in  a  pretty  little  piece  called  Le 
Chateau  de  ma  Niece.  The  theatre  of  the  Odeon  is  situated  in  the  region  of 
the  students,  and  the  parterre  or  pit  was,  of  course,  crowded  with  these. 
They  ranged  from  the  ages  of  sixteen  or  seventeen  to  twenty-one  or  twenty- 
two,  and  like  American  students  were  noisy  and  uproarious,  crying  to  the 
orchestra  for  the  Marseilles  Hymn,  &c.     While  looking  at  them  ranged  in 

1  Joseph  Francois  Casimir  Delzers,  1787- ;  a  writer  upon  criminal  law  and  criminal  and 
civil  procedure,  and  a  professor  from  1823  to  1857. 

2  1779-1847.  Her  first  success,  which  was  at  the  beginning  of  this  century,  was  achieved 
in  the  personation  of  a  deaf  and  dumb  girl  in  the  Abbe  de  VEpee.  She  was  tor  thirty  years 
without  a  rival  on  the  French  stage  in  genteel  comedy,  and  retired  in  1811.  Her  favorite 
plays  were  those  of  Moliere. 


234  MEMOIR   OF   CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1838. 

rows  in  the  pit,  I  might  have  mistaken  them  for  Cantabs,  if  the  sounds  of 
French  from  all  quarters,  penetrating  my  ear,  had  not  keenly  reminded  me 
that  I  was  not  in  my  own  country.  Mademoiselle  Mars  was,  I  should  think, 
rather  under  the  common  height,  and  of  a  neat  and  beautiful  figure.  Her 
eyes  were  brilliant;  and  her  teeth,  hair,  and  bust  all  good, — though  nobody 
can  tell  what  of  these  is  the  gift  of  God,  or  of  the  dentist  or  milliner.  The 
theatre  of  the  Odeon  is  very  pretty. 


TO  GEORGE  S.  HILLARD. 

Paris,  Jan.  13,  1838. 

My  dear  George,  — .  .  .  You  can  imagine  my  feelings  in  such  a  scene 
as  I  passed  through  to-day  [the  Louvre],  when  you  think  that  Mr.  Sears's 
house  was  my  type  of  a  palace,  the  Athenaeum  Gallery,  of  a  collection  of 
paintings,  and  the  plaster  casts  in  the  Athenaeum  reading-room  and  Felton's 
study,  of  a  collection  of  antiques.  My  voyage  has  already  been  compensated 
for  —  sea-sickness,  time,  money,  and  all  —  many  times  over.  It  was  fully 
paid  for  at  Rouen.  All  that  I  have  seen  since  is  clear  gain.  But  still  I 
cannot  forget  dear  Boston  and  friends  there,  and  long  much  to  hear  of  you. 
I  sadly  fear  that  all  of  you  will  delay  writing  me  until  you  hear  from  me, 
which  will  serve  me  badly,  as  I  shall  then  be  without  letters  from  you  for 
many  months.  Tell  my  friends  to  write;  let  me  know  all  the  news,  —  law, 
literature,  politics,  love,  and  matrimony.  Before  this  letter  can  reach  you 
Cleveland  will  be  a  married  man ;  give  my  love  to  him,  if  he  is  in  Boston.  I 
have  already  written  him  to  the  care  of  Bishop  Doane,  Burlington.  Tell 
Miss  Austin  that  I  had  the  happiness  of  placing  her  little  packet  in  Mrs. 
Ticknor's  hands  on  New  Year's  morning.  Mrs.  T.  is  delightful,  and  it  does 
me  good  to  see  her.  Every  evening  of  my  first  week  in  Paris  I  passed  with 
her.  As  ever,  affectionately  yours, 

C.  S. 

Have  seen  Mademoiselle  Mars  in  Moliere's  Les  Femmes  Savantes.  It  was 
a  treat  which  I  shall  never  forget.  Her  voice  is  like  a  silver  flute;  her  eye 
like  a  gem.     Have  met  several  professors. 


JOURNAL. 


Jan.  13, 1838.  Called  on  my  friends  the  Ticknors,  — it  being  the  first  time 
I  had  been  to  the  boulevards  since  I  left  them  last  Monday:  it  is  now  Satur- 
day. Found  Mrs.  T.  as  agreeable  and  friendly  as  ever ;  full  of  kindness  to 
me.  Mr.  T.  was  not  at  home  at  first;  he  however  returned  soon,  having 
in  the  mean  time  been  to  my  lodgings  in  search  of  me.     While  with  them  I 


^t.  27.]  FRENCH  NEWSPAPERS.  ^35 

saw  Count  Circourt,1  a  Frenchman,  who  though  young  has  great  attain- 
ments, and  speaks  many  languages.  He  was  the  private  secretary  of  Prince 
Polignac,  and  of  course,  with  the  prostration  of  that  mad  minister,  lost  his 
chances  of  advancement  for  the  present.  I  was  not  formally  presented  to 
him,  as  it  is  not  the  usage  to  introduce  strangers  to  each  other ;  all  in  the 
room  are  privileged  to  address  each  other  without  an  introduction. 

Went  to  Cutter's,  an  American  tailor  established  in  Paris,  to  be  meas- 
ured for  a  surtout ;  was  struck  by  the  close  attention  paid  to  the  shape  of 
my  person  by  the  measurer.  It  was  noted,  among  other  things,  that  my  right 
shoulder  was  slightly  higher  than  the  left.  Of  course,  the  appearance  of  this 
was  to  be  counteracted.     So  the  tailor  makes  the  man ! 

Next  read  the  papers  at  Galignani's,  where  I  have  subscribed  for  two 
months,  paying  twelve  francs.  Here  are  all  the  English  and  French  news- 
papers covering  two  large  tables,  and  all  in  constant  demand.  When,  how- 
ever, I  looked  for  American  papers,  it  was  with  difficulty  that  I  could  find 
them:  they  were  put  away  in  the  dark.  Such  is  the  interest  excited  by  our 
affairs!  But  I  must  confess,  that,  as  I  perused  the  columns  of  these  papers, 
—  being  fresh  from  the  perusal  of  the  elaborate  sheets  from  the  English 
press,  and  the  smaller  but  piquant  and  vigorous  papers  of  France,  —  I  felt 
strongly  the  pettiness  of  the  politics  of  my  country,  their  provincialism,  and 
their  lack  of  interest  for  the  cosmopolite,  besides  also  the  ordinary  character 
of  their  editorial  matter.  There  is  not  so  good  a  market  for  editorial  talent 
in  our  country  as  here;  in  other  words,  the  talents  which  will  make  a  good 
editor  with  learning,  comprehension,  and  rhetorical  ability  will  find  better 
situations  with  us  than  at  the  desk  of  a  newspaper.  Au  contraire  in  France, 
Thiers  steps  from  the  chair  of  his  printing  office  to  that  of  prime  minister ; 
and  Armand  Carrel,  as  a  simple  journalist,  in  the  pages  of  the  National, 
exercises  an  influence  on  the  destinies  of  his  country,  greater  than  the  most 
favored  minister  of  the  crown.  In  America  the  profession  has  not  the  same 
high  regard  which  it  has  in  Paris ;  and  men  of  distinguished  talent,  before 
whom  the  world  is  opening,  hesitate  to  engage  in  it,  except  as  an  agrement 
of  youth,  or  to  piece  out  the  narrow  income  of  a  profession.  However,  I  will 
not  speculate  upon  the  reasons ;  it  is  sufficient  that  there  is  a  great  differ- 
ence. The  French  press,  so  far  as  I  have  been  able  to  comprehend  its  spirit, 
is  vigorous,  keen,  constant,  watchful,  and  full  of  ability,  with  force  of  rhet- 
oric and  argument  in  great  store.  The  papers  are  not  more  than  half  as 
large  as  ours ;  indeed,  they  are  of  about  the  same  size  with  a  half -sheet  of  an 
American  newspaper,  folded  in  the  middle,  —  being,  therefore,  in  the  folio 
form;  still  they  contain  as  much,  and  indeed  more,  interesting  matter  than 
our  papers.  Their  four  pages  are  full  of  discussion,  reports,  or  news,  with 
but  a  few  lines  for  advertisements ;  which  latter  form  the  bulk  of  an  American 
newspaper. 

1  Count  Adolphe  de  Circourt  has  contributed  many  articles  to  journals  and  magazines. 
His  wife,  not  now  living,  was  a  lady  of  Russian  birth  and  rare  endowments.  Sumner 
received  many  attentions  from  them  during  his  visit  to  Paris  in  1857.  The  Count's  brother, 
Albert,  is  well  known  as  an  historical  writer,  and  in  1872  became  a  Councillor  of  State. 


236  MEMOIR  OF  CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1838. 

Next  dined  at  one  of  the  restaurants  at  the  Palais  Royal,  for  two  francs. 
Then  went  to  the  Theatre  Vaudeville  in  the  street  running  from  the  Palais 
Royal  to  the  Place  du  Carrousel;  heard  two  short  pieces,  of  which  I  under- 
stood very  little.  They  were  unpublished,  and  of  course  I  could  not  pro- 
cure a  copy;  so  I  was  left  to  my  ear,  which  served  me  quite  badly.  Indeed, 
I  despair  of  ever  following  the  rapid  and  idiomatic  expressions  of  French 
conversation. 

Jan.  14  (Sunday).  This  morning  'M.  Foelix  called  upon  me  before 
breakfast,  —  that  is,  before  eleven  o'clock;  kindly  inquired  about  my  situa- 
tion, and  invited  me  to  go  with  him  to-morrow  evening  to  a  soiree  at  the 
Baron  de  Gerando's.1 

Notwithstanding  it  was  Sunday,  I  went  with  some  friends  to  the  Italian 
Opera.  The  opera  for  the  night  was  Don  Giovanni,  one  of  the  most  famous, 
if  not  the  most  so,  of  the  productions  of  Mozart.  The  performers  were  the 
famous  Italians,  who  now  stand  the  highest  in  the  musical  world,  —  Signori 
Rubini  2  (Don  Ottavio) ;  Tamburini  3  (Don  Giovanni)  ;  Lablache  4  (Leporello) , 
the  latter  with  the  most  powerful  bass  voice  I  ever  heard ;  Madame  Grisi 5 
(Donna  Anna) ;  and  Madame  Persiani  6  (Zerlina) ,  the  latter  a  debutante  of 
the  season,  and  to  my  taste  equal  to  Grisi  herself  in  many  points,  though  not 
in  fierceness  and  power.  I  have  no  knowledge  of  music,  and  but  little, 
scarcely  any,  ear  for  it;  but  I  felt  the  singular  power  of  these  performers.7 
Their  voices,  attuned  to  such  various  and  subtle  harmonies,  entered  the 
chambers  of  my  heart.  At  times  the  notes  were  soft  and  delicate,  touching 
gently  on  the  sense  as  a  linnet's  feather;  and  then  again  they  would  rise, 
and,  borne  by  the  powerful  music  of  the  orchestra,  thunder  in  the  ear  with 
the  voice  of  one  who  was  taking  a  city.  In  one  of  the  back  boxes,  sitting 
out  of  the  range  of  the  light,  so  that,  like  Xerxes  at  his  feasts,  they  could 
see  well  themselves  but  not  be  seen  by  others,  were  two  of  the  younger  sons 
of  the  King;  with  light  hair,  and  looking  not  unlike  other  boys  of  their  age, 
say  from  fourteen  to  seventeen.  They  are  dukes  or  princes  of  something, 
but  I  do  not  know  of  what.  The  house  was  crowded  with  a  brilliant  audi- 
ence ;  and  it  was  a  sensation  different  from  what  I  had  yet  experienced,  to 
find  myself,  as  it  were,  between  two  foreign  languages,  —  Italian  on  the  stage, 
and  French  sounding  from  every  voice  about  me.     As  we  left  the  theatre,  we 

1  He  declined  the  invitation  because  of  his  inability  as  yet  to  speak  French. 

2  Giovanni  Battista  Rubini,  1795-1854;  reputed  the  first  Italian  tenor  of  his  time. 

8  Antonio  Tamburini,  1800-1876.  After  singing  in  Italian  theatres,  he  appeared  first  in 
Paris  in  1832.    He  retired  from  the  stage  in  1854. 

4  Luigi  Lablache,  1794-1858 ;  the  celebrated  basso.  He  succeeded  both  in  the  serious 
and  the  comic  opera.  He  came  to  Paris  in  1830,  and  performed  there  and  in  London.  He 
is  said  to  have  given  music  lessons  to  Queen  Victoria. 

5  Giulia  Grisi,  1808-1869.  Her  first  appearance  in  Paris  was  on  Oct.  16,  1832,  at  the 
Theatre  Italien  in  Semiramide.  She  performed  in  the  principal  cities  of  Europe,  and  in 
1854  in  the  United  States. 

6  Madame  Persiani  (nee  Fanny  Tacchinardi),  1818-1867.  Her  first  appearance  was  at 
Leghorn,  in  1832.     She  appeared  in  Paris,  in  1837,  in  Francesco,  da  Rimini. 

7  Grisi,  Malibran,  Tamburini,  Lablache,  Rubini,  and  Ivanhoff  were  united  in  a  concert 
at  Stafford  House,  in  1835.     GreVille's  "Memoirs,"  ch.  xxviii. ;  July  15,  1835. 


2Et.  27]  HONORS  TO  MOLlfcRE.  237 

passed  through  a  small  file  of  the  military  who  stood  in  the  entry,  and 
encountered  in  the  street  five  dragoons  mounted  in  front  of  the  theatre.  I 
sat  in  what  is  called  the  stalles  d'orchestre,  being  some  of  the  front  benches 
of  the  pit,  which  have  been  parted  off  from  the  remainder  and  subdivided 
into  seats,  like  arm-chairs.  The  ticket  was  twelve  francs,  —  a  most  costly 
amusement. 

Jan.  15  (Monday).  This  morning,  while  taking  my  breakfast  at  a  cafe, 
and  reading  a  newspaper,  I  found  that  the  building  of  the  Italian  Opera 
had  been  burned  on  the  preceding  night.  This  was  the  very  house  that  I 
had  left,  but  an  hour  or  so  before  the  flames  were  discovered.  The  powerful 
musical  company  will  undoubtedly  be  transferred  to  some  other  house,  as 
their  talent  is  unrivalled  in  the  whole  world;  but  I  am  glad  to  have  heard 
them  in  their  own  splendid  theatre.  The  fire  was  a  bad  one,  and  has 
extended  to  other  buildings.  I  visited  the  spot  this  forenoon,  and  found  the 
adjacent  streets  full  of  spectators,  with  numerous  soldiers  on  guard  pro- 
tecting the  property,  and  also  preventing  spectators  from  approaching  the 
engines,  which  were  manned  by  bands  trained  by  the  government  for  this 
purpose,  and  in  uniform. 

Walked  from  the  boulevards  near  the  Opera  to  the  Sorbonne,  and  heard 
for  a  few  minutes  Dumas 1  on  chemistry,  and  Fauriel  2  on  Spanish  literature. 
I  understood  very  little  of  what  either  said.  The  former,  a  very  neat  gentle- 
manly person,  was  talking  and  experimenting  to  a  large  audience,  of  several 
hundred.  Fauriel,  rather  an  elderly  gentleman,  say  fifty-five  or  sixty,  con- 
sidered in  his  lecture  the  remains  of  the  ancient  Phoenicians  in  Spain. 

To-night  is  the  anniversary  of  Moliere's  birth,  and  it  was  celebrated 
at  the  Theatre  Francais.  Le  Tartuffe  and  Le  Malade  lmaginaire  were  both 
performed,  Mars  performing  the  part  of  iSmile  in  Le  Tartuffe.  I  had  not  had 
time  to  read  the  plays  before  going;  but  carried  them  with  me  to  the  theatre, 
and  followed  the  actors  throughout.  After  the  plays  ensued  a  ceremony, 
annually  repeated,  I  believe,  on  this  night,  — the  crowning  of  Moliere's  bust 
with  bays  by  all  the  performers,  who  successively  approach  it  with  a  laurel 
crown  in  their  hands,  which  they  place  on  the  head  of  the  statue,  amidst  the 
applause  of  the  audience.  And  this  is  in  honor  of  the  man  who  was  refused 
burial,  on  his  death,  in  consecrated  ground,  because  he  had  been  a  player! 

As  I  passed  from  the  theatre,  after  midnight,  my  walk  home  carried  me 
through  the  Place  du  Carrousel,  and  in  front  of  the  Tuileries.  This  splendid 
palace  of  kings  was  resplendent  with  lights,  and  its  ample  court-yard,  the 
scene  of  much  Revolutionary  incident,  filled  with  lines  of  carriages  awaiting 

1  Jean  Baptiste  Dumas,  a  celebrated  chemist  and  author  of  works  on  his  specialty,  was 
born  July  14,  1800.  He  was  minister  of  agriculture  and  commerce,  1850-1851,  and  has 
held  other  public  offices.  He  was  elected,  Dec.  1875,  member  of  the  French  Academy 
as  successor  of  Guizot.  His  efforts  have  been  directed  to  the  promotion  of  scientific  agri- 
culture. 

2  Claude  Charles  Fauriel,  1772-1844.  He  was.  a  nephew  of  the  Abbe*  Sieyes ;  the  inti- 
mate friend  of  Guizot,  Manzoni,  and  Madame  de  Stael;  a  professor  of  foreign  Lterature, 
taking,  in  1830,  a  chair  which  the  Due  de  Broglie,  then  Minister  of  Public  Instruction,  had 
created  for  him ;  and  a  writer  upon  historical  and  literary  subjects. 


238  MEMOIR  OF    CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1838. 

the  gay  and  the  honored  who  were  enjoying  the  festivities  within.  Senti- 
nels were  on  their  silent  watch,  in  view  of  this  scene.  Little  indeed  did 
they,  while  holding  with  benumbed  hands  their  muskets,  enjoy  the  cheer 
and  music  and  hilarity  of  their  King.  The  weather  was  intensely  cold,  so 
as  to  remind  me  of  a  New  England  winter.  The  situation  of  these  poor 
soldiers  strikes  me  every  evening  that  I  walk  the  streets.  They  are  never 
out  of  sight;  the  gleam  of  their  arms  is  seen  at  every  turn  that  one  makes, 
and  they  are  always  walking  at  the  same  slow  pace  over  a  short  patch  of 
ground.  They  are  especially  in  the  neighborhood  of  all  theatres,  of  all  the 
public  offices,  public  buildings,  public  libraries,  bridges,  and  generally  of  all 
places  of  public  amusement  and  gathering. 

Jan.  16  (Tuesday).  To-day  I  enjoyed  a  treat  at  the  Sorbonne  and  at 
the  College  of  France.  I  heard  at  the  former  Jouffroy,1  well  known  through 
the  world  for  his  writings  on  philosophy  and  international  law;  and  at  the 
latter  Lerminier,  a  man  of  different  character,  but  of  considerable  celebrity 
as  an  author,  and  great  popularity  as  a  lecturer.  Jouffroy  is  now  a  distin- 
guished member  of  the  Chamber  of  Deputies,  and  during  the  last  week  made 
an  able  speech  in  that  body.  He  lectured  in  the  same  room  in  which  I  had 
already  heard  Lenormant  and  Fauriel.  The  room  was  crowded  before  he 
entered,  with  young  and  old,  who  appeared  to  be  watching  eagerly  for  his 
appearance,  and  who  broke  into  applause  when  he  was  seen  advancing  to  the 
desk.  He  was  tall,  with  a  slight  stoop  in  his  shoulders,  and  appeared  to  be 
about  forty-five  or  forty-eight  years  old.  His  hair  was  thin,  and  was  suffered 
to  grow  long  on  the  back  of  his  head,  so  as  to  cover  the  collar  of  his  coat. 
His  eye  was  mild  but  striking;  and,  together  with  the  pallid  countenance, 
showed  the  student.  Like  all  the  professors,  he  sat  while  lecturing.  He 
had  neither  volume  nor  notes  of  any  kind  before  him.  His  subject  was 
generally  philosophy,  and  to-day  he  was  presenting  a  tableau  of  the  princi- 
pal faculties  of  the  human  mind.  So  far  as  I  could  understand  him,  with 
my  poor  French  ear,  he  presented  a  beautiful  view  of  the  subject.  His  lan- 
guage was  close  and  precise,  and  yet  fluent,  elegant,  and  animated.  His 
voice  was  soft  and  well-managed;  his  gestures  frequent  and  graceful.  His 
own  interest  in  the  subject  seemed  to  be  great.  When  he  closed  there  was 
considerable  applause.  I  have  seldom,  if  ever,  heard  a  lecturer  who  pleased 
me  more  than  Jouffroy. 

From  Jouffroy  to  Lerminier  2  was  a  great  change.     The  former  was  sim- 

1  Theodore  Simon  Jouffroy,  1796-1842.  He  was  distinguished  as  a  philosopher,  particu- 
larly for  his  studies  in  morals  and  metaphysics.  He  translated  into  French  the  works  of 
Thomas  Reid,  and  Dugald  Stewart's  "Moral  Philosophy."  In  1833  he  became  a  Professor 
of  Greek  Literature  and  Philosophy,  in  the  College  of  France,  and  in  1838  resigned  his  chair 
to  become  Librarian  of  the  University.  In  1831  he  was  elected  to  the  Chamber  of  Deputies. 
In  1840  he  was  appointed  on  the  royal  commission  of  public  instruction.  His  plans  for 
radical  improvements  not  being  seconded,  he  withdrew  disheartened  into  complete  solitude, 
in  which  he  remained  until  his  death. 

2  Jean  Louis  Eugene  Lerminier,  1803-1857.  He  was  at  first  an  advocate,  but  left  the  bar 
to  study  literature  and  jurisprudence.  He  became  a  professor  in  1831.  His  lectures  were 
singularly  attractive  for  their  eloquence  and  animation  of  style.  He  contributed  to  journals 
and  reviews,  particularly  the  Revue  des  deux  Mondes. 


JEt.  27.]  JOUFFROY  AND  LERMINIER.  239 

pie,  modest,  unaffected,  and  almost  conversational;  the  latter  loud-voiced, 
rhetorical,  and  ambitious  in  his  delivery.  In  personal  appearance  the  con- 
trast was  great.  Jouffroy  looked  every  inch  the  scholar;  Lerminier  more  like 
a  disciple  of  Anacreon.  His  hair  was  sleek  and  long,  not  unlike  Nicholas 
Biddle's,  and  his  size  and  general  appearance  reminded  me  very  much  of  the 
bank-president.  He  appeared  to  be  about  thirty-eight  years  of  age.  Like 
Jouffroy,  he  had  a  large  and  attentive  audience,  notwithstanding  the  lecture- 
room  was  uncomfortably  cold;  and  (mirabile  dictu)  there  was  a  considerable 
number  of  ladies  in  the  room.  I  have  since  been  told  that  his  lectures  al- 
ways attract  ladies,  many  or  few.  His  subject,  according  to  the  programme, 
was  the  history  of  comparative  legislation ;  but  he  was  occupied  this  morning 
in  considering  the  effect  of  the  conquest  of  the  North  of  France  by  the  Nor- 
mans upon  the  conquerors  themselves,  since  they  received  Christianity  and 
feudalism  from  the  conquered.  His  enunciation,  though  it  appeared  to  be 
distinct,  was  so  rapid  as  to  make  it  difficult  for  me  to  follow  him.  His  man- 
ner was  animated,  and  even  excited  in  the  extreme ;  and  frequently,  by  way 
of  additional  emphasis,  he  gave  the  desk  before  him  a  bang  with  his  hands 
in  time  with  his  voice.  There  is  but  one  step  from  the  sublime  to  the  ridic- 
ulous; and  the  eloquent  and  absurd  are  often  separated  by  thin  partitions. 
Had  I  been  left  this  morning  to  my  own  unassisted  judgment,  I  should  have 
been  in  great  doubt  how  to  regard  Lerminier,  —  whether  as  an  eloquent 
lecturer  or  a  vapid  declaimer.  Foelix,  the  editor  of  the  Revue  l^trangere, 
has  told  me  that  he  was  nothing  better  than  a  charlatan;  and  I  must  confess 
that  what  I  heard  this  morning  has  not  disturbed  this  opinion.  I  shall  keep 
my  mind  open  with  regard  to  him,  and  hope  to  hear  him  repeatedly  after  I 
shall  be  better  able  to  understand  him. 

Jan.  17  (Wednesday).  Called  on  the  Ticknors  and  Walshes,1  and  attended 
to  some  little  affairs  in  the  city,  and  thus  exhausted  the  day.  So  much  for 
the  distances  of  Paris!  In  front  of  the  Theatre  Italien,  which  was  burnt, 
was  the  funeral  of  an  unfortunate  who  was  destroyed  in  the  conflagration. 
The  house  which  contained  his  remains  was  covered,  at  the  lower  part  of  it, 
with  black  cloth;  and  a  hearse  was  in  waiting  with  black  plumes  nodding  on 
the  top  and  horses  decorated  with  black.  Mourning  carriages  were  also  in 
attendance.  In  the  street  were  several  persons  —  I  took  them  for  hired 
mourners  —  dressed  in  black,  with  cocked  hats  and  deep  weeds.  They 
were  engaged  in  smoking  pipes  and  enjoying  jokes,  as  if  they  were  to  as- 
sist at  a  wedding  and  not  at  a  funeral.  I  observed  to-day  the  ruins  of  the 
building.  Its  walls  and  beautiful  portico  still  stand,  apparently  strong  and 
unaffected  by  the  fire  which  destroyed  the  interior  of  the  building.     I  do 

l  Robert  Walsh  was  born  in  Baltimore  in  1784,  and  died  in  Paris  in  1859.  His  career  was 
miscellaneous,  both  as  to  residence  and  literary  occupations.  He  studied  in  the  Catholic 
colleges  of  Baltimore  and  Georgetown.  Then  he  resided  several  years  in  Europe.  Return- 
ing to  this  country,  he  studied  law  in  Philadelphia,  but  did  not  follow  the  profession.  In 
1821,  he  founded,  and  for  fifteen  years  edited,  the  "National  Gazette"  of  that  city.  He 
published  various  papers  on  American  politics,  biography,  and  literature.  In  1837  he  went 
to  Europe  for  a  permanent  residence.  From  1845  to  1851  he  was  Consul  of  the  United 
States  at  Paris.    In  1834,  Sumner  met  him  in  Philadelphia.     Ante,  p.  133. 


240  MEMOIR  OF  CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1838. 

not  wonder  that  fires  do  so  little  injury  in  Paris.  The  houses  are  all  built 
close  together,  but  they  are  of  stone.  There  is  no  such  thing  as  a  wooden 
house;  and  in  the  stone  houses  there  is  very  little  inflammable  matter.  The 
roof  is  tiled  or  slated;  the  entries  and  most  of  the  stairways  and  floors  are  of 
stone.  Besides,  the  walls  of  all  buildings  are  so  thick  that,  if  a  fire  broke  out 
in  a  building,  it  would  be  confined  there.  The  engines  are  ridiculously 
small  and  filled  by  buckets ;  there  does  not  appear  to  be  any  such  thing  as  a 
suction-hose  here.  The  engine  companies  consist  of  six  hundred  men,  trained 
and  drilled  by  the  Government,  called  the  sapeurs-pompiers,  who  are  on  watch 
in  different  parts  of  the  city  constantly.  Americans  could  teach  the  Parisians 
how  to  put  fires  out. 

Jan  18  (Thursday).  Heard  Tissot1  at  the  College  Royal  de  France,  and 
also  Ampere.  The  former  is  quite  a  classic  name.  He  is  the  translator  of 
some  of  Virgil's  Eclogues,  and  has  been  connected  with  other  literary  labors. 
His  subject  was  Latin  Poetry.  After  exhorting  his  hearers  to  its  study, 
and  in  very  animated  language  telling  them  what  companions  and  friends 
they  would  find  in  the  classics,  he  read  from  Virgil's  "iEneid,"  second  book, 
the  description  of  the  death  of  Priam,  translating  line  for  line  as  he  proceeded, 
and  then  commented  upon  it.  He  was  an  old  and  venerable  man  of  sixty 
or  more,  and  spoke  rather  indistinctly;  so  that  I  was  unable  to  follow  him, 
except  now  and  then ;  and  I  found  it  more  difficult  to  understand  him  while 
reading  Latin  poetry  than  when  speaking  French.  He  gave  the  French 
pronunciation  to  his  Latin,  so  that  at  first  I  should  have  mistaken  it  for 
French.  M.  Ampere,2  at  the  same  college,  lectured  on  chivalry.  He  was 
a  man  apparently  of  not  more  than  thirty-five,  with  quite  a  distinct  man- 
ner, though  he  could  hardly  be  called  fluent.  He  considered  the  elements 
of  chivalry,  —  Christianity  and  Germanism,  according  to  him,  —  and  pointed 
out  the  features  referrible  to  each  of  these  elements.  I  was  able  to  follow 
him  pretty  well,  —  much  better  than  Tissot. 

To-night  I  have  engaged  the  assistance  of  a  new  teacher  for  French, — 
M.  Debidas,8  who  has  been  recommended  from  many  quarters.  I  am  to  have 
lessons  from  him  three  times  a  week,  in  the  evenings.  I  shall  also  continue 
with  my  instructress;  so  that,  between  them  both,  I  shall  be  pretty  well 
supplied  with  French. 

To-day  is  very  cold,  and  several  preceding  days  have  been  so  likewise.  I 
hardly  expected  such  inclement  weather  when  I  left  home.     Wood  is  very 

1  Pierre  Francois  Tissot,  1768-1854.  He  was  a  student  of  the  ancient  classics ;  wrote 
also  upon  French  literature  and  history,  and  was  in  public  life  under  the  first  empire. 

2  Jean  Jacques  Ampere  (son  of  the  scientist,  Andre*  Marie  Ampere,  who  died  June  10, 
1836)  was  born  at  Lyons  in  Aug.,  1800,  and  died  at  Pau.  March  27, 1864.  From  May,  1833, 
to  the  time  of  his  death,  he  was  Professor  of  French  Literature  in  the  College  of  France.  He 
travelled  widely,  and,  in  1851-52,  visited  the  United  States  and  Mexico.  He  is  celebrated  for 
his  friendship  with  Tocqueville  and  his  passion  for  Madame  Recamier.  See  "North  Ameri- 
can Review"  for  Oct.,  1875,  and  "Galaxy"  for  Nov.,  1875,  for  articles,  both  entitled 
"  The  Two  Amperes." 

8  On  Sumner's  next  visit  to  Europe,  he  sought  at  Paris,  March  23,  1857,  first  of  all,  his 
former  teacher  at  52  Rue  St.  Dominique,  but  could  find  no  trace  of  him. 


^Et.  27.]  DUCAURROY.  241 

dear;  it  is  doled  out  like  wax  candles,  and  my  landlord  looks  with  absolute 
amazement  upon  the  quantity  which  I  use. 

Jan.  19  (Friday).  The  long  gallery  of  the  Louvre  will  close  to-morrow, 
in  order  to  prepare  for  the  annual  exhibition  of  the  productions  of  modern 
aitists,  which  takes  place  in  it,  —  the  new  pictures  being  placed  before  the 
old.  I  went  there  to-day,  to  snatch  a  hasty  view  of  these  numerous  speci- 
mens of  art  and  genius.  I  felt  "  cabined,  cribbed,  confined,"  from  my  igno- 
rance of  the  principles  of  art  and  of  its  history,  except  in  its  most  prominent 
traits.  There  are  about  a  dozen  pictures  here  by  Raphael,  and  as  many  by 
Leonardo  da  Vinci,  which  at  once  attracted  my  attention.  There  was  the 
stamp  of  genius  upon  them.  If  I  should  attempt  to  describe  their  effect  or 
appearance,  I  should  probably  make  some  blunder.  They  touched  my  mind, 
untutored  as  it  is,  like  a  rich  strain  of  music. 

To-night  had  an  exercise  with  my  new  Frenchman ;  found  him  the  very 
man  I  wanted.  The  cold  continues  intolerable ;  and  my  chamber,  notwith- 
standing all  my  exertions,  frigid  beyond  endurance.  I  go  to  bed  to-night 
earlier  than  usual  —  the  clock  this  moment  striking  midnight  —  in  the  hope 
of  escaping  the  cold.     My  French  grammar  will  be  my  companion. 

Jan.  20  (Saturday).  Waked  in  the  full  determination  with  which  I 
went  to  sleep ;  namely,  to  find  a  warmer  place  for  my  body.  In  America 
I  am  accustomed  to  cold  weather;  but  there  I  find  a  comfortable  shelter 
from  its  inclemency.  My  present  quarters  do  not  afford  it.  With  a 
large  fire  in  front  and  my  surtout  on,  I  freeze  behind;  and  my  hair  is  so 
cold  that  I  hesitate  to  touch  it  with  my  hand.  Of  course,  I  cannot  endure 
this;  and  I  have  taken  neat  and  comfortable  quarters  at  No.  25  Rue  de 
rOd&m,  where  Shattuck  and  Benjamin  are,  at  the  rate  of  sixty  francs  a 
month. 

To-day  I  heard  at  the  Sorbonne  the  substitute  of  Cousin,  M.  Poret,  a  gen- 
tleman very  plain  in  his  appearance,  who  appeared  to  be  about  forty-five.  His 
lecture  was  written,  — the  first  written  one  I  have  heard,  — and  he  seemed 
to  be  so  little  acquainted  with  its  text,  and  was  so  near-sighted,  that  he  was 
obliged  to  stoop  his  head  constantly  in  order  to  read  it.  It  was  on  the  philo- 
sophical theory  of  Heraclitus.  I  did  not  stay  long  to  hear  it ;  but  went  to 
the  Ecole  de  Droit,  where  I  found  Ducaurroy  x  in  the  midst  of  a  lecture  on 
the  "Institutes  of  Justinian."  He  was  an  old  gentleman  of  sixty,  with 
gray  hair  and  a  mild  manner,  with  a  slow  enunciation,  and  in  the  black -an d- 
red  dress  which  I  first  noticed  as  that  of  a  professor;  but  which,  now,  I  be- 
lieve to  be  peculiar  to  the  schools  of  medicine  and  law.  He  had  quite  a  large 
audience,  among  whom  I  noticed  two  or  three  blacks,  or  rather  mulattoes,  — 
two-thirds  black,  perhaps,  —  dressed  quite  a  la  mode,  and  having  the  easy, 

l  Adolphe  Marie  Ducaurroy  de  la  Croix,  1788-1850.  The  "  Institutes  of  Justinian " 
were  the  study  of  his  life.  His  distinctive  aim  was  to  set  aside  the  Commentaries,  and 
restore  the  Institutes  themselves  to  their  just  place  as  a  study  and  an  authority.  His  chief 
work  —  which  is  a  classic  —  was  "The  Institutes  of  Justinian  newly  Translated  and  Ex- 
plained "  (Institutes  de  Justinien  nouvettement  Traduites  et  Expliquees),  which,  first  published 
in  1835,  had  reached  an  eighth  edition  in  1851.  He  was  also  a  contributor  to  the  Revue 
Etrangere. 

vol.  i.  16 


242  MEMOIR  OF  CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1838. 

jaunty  air  of  young  men  of  fashion,  who  were  well  received  by  their  fellow- 
students.  They  were  standing  in  the  midst  of  a  knot  of  young  men ;  and 
their  color  seemed  to  be  no  objection  to  them.  I  was  glad  to  see  this;  though, 
with  American  impressions,  it  seemed  very  strange.  It  must  be,  then,  that 
the  distance  between  free  blacks  and  the  whites  among  us  is  derived  from 
education,  and  does  not  exist  in  the  nature  of  things. 

Dined  with  Mr.  Harrison,  where  I  met  a  young  Russian ,  Mr.  Tchihatcheff ; J 
who  is  quite  a  cosmopolite,  having  been  absent  from  his  country  nearly  five 
years,  and  speaks  a  multitude  of  languages  with  perfect  fluency,  —  English,  so 
that  I  mistook  him  for  an  Englishman  when  he  first  entered.  I  talked  with 
him  a  great  deal  about  Russia,  and  found  him  intelligent  and  communicative. 
From  him  I  learned  much  about  the  real  state  and  policy  of  his  country.  He 
was  fond  of  American  institutions,  and  yet  he  gloried  in  being  a  slave  under 
his  own  despot.  After  dinner,  we  went  to  one  of  the  concert  rooms  (Rue  St. 
Honore),  where  you  get  the  finest  music  —  for  one  franc. 

Jan.  22  (Monday).  I  went  to  the  ficole  de  Droit  to  hear  M.  Rossi  again, 
but  found  that  he  was  prevented  by  indisposition  from  lecturing ;  then  visited 
the  Pantheon,  which  overshadows  the  Law  School,  and  returned  home.  My 
present  plan  is,  for  a  fortnight  or  more,  to  stick  to  my  French,  and  of  course 
to  keep  within  doors  considerably.  Much  should  I  like  to  be  abroad,  seeing 
some  of  the  thousand  sights  which  constantly  present  themselves;  but  my 
first  desire  is  to  speak  French. 

Jan.  23.  Heard  part  of  Jouffroy's  lecture,  but  did  not  arrive  in  season  to 
have  a  seat;  and  so  lost  an  opportunity  of  listening  with  attention. 

Jan.  2L  Went  to  the  Sorbonne  and  the  iScole  de  Droit ;  found  the  profes- 
sors I  intended  to  hear  at  the  former  place  indisposed,  so  that  their  lectures 
were  adjourned.  At  the  latter  place  heard  Demante  2  on  the  Code  Civil.  He 
appeared  to  be  about  forty-five,  with  rather  a  low  forehead  and  black  hair. 
His  manner  was  very  hurried;  so  much  so  that  I  was  able  to  apprehend  very 
little  that  he  said.  From  there,  walked  down  the  narrow  streets  that  lead 
to  the  river,  to  the  ancient  structure  of  Notre  Dame.  After  the  cathedral  at 
Rouen  this  seems  tame;  though,  if  I  had  not  seen  the  former,  I  should  be 
very  much  struck  by  Notre  Dame. 

This  afternoon  I  engaged  another  French  master,  who  will  come  every 
day  in  the  week,  except  Sunday,  and  talk  and  read  with  me.  He  is  an  old 
gentleman,  who  was  recommended  to  me  by  Mr.  Brent,  our  consul. 

Jan.  25.  Went  again  to  the  Sorbonne;  found  the  professor  I  wished  to 
hear  sick  with  a  cold,  so  that  his  lecture  was  adjourned.  Then  went  to  visit 
the  Palais  des  Thermes,  a  relic  of  the  Roman  occupation  of  Gaul.  The 
building  is,  of  course,  at  this  date  only  a  wreck;  but  you  there  see  the  very 
bricks  and  arches  of  that  great  people,  whose  eagles  pervaded  all  the  ancient 
world;  and  you  stand  more  distinctly  in  the  presence  of  antiquity  than  in  the 
Cathedral  of  Rouen,  though  the  grandeur  of  the  latter  and  the  historical 
associations  connected  with  it  give  it  a  more  thrilling  interest. 

1  Pierre  de  Tchihatcheff,  1812-.     Sumner  met  him  in  Paris  in  1857. 

2  Antoine  Marie  Demante,  1789  1856.  He  became,  in  1819,  a  substitute  {suppleant)  pro- 
fessor in  the  Ecole  de  Droit.  In  1848,  he  served  in  the  Constituent  Assembly  and  in  the 
Legislative  Assembly.     He  wrote  upon  the  Code  Civil. 


jEt.27.]  DINNER  WITH  FOELIX.  243 

My  French  master  came  to-day,  and  I  talked  with  him  an  hour  or  more. 
I  found  myself  interested  in  him,  and  we  kept  up  the  ball  of  conversation 
very  well. 

Jan.  27.  At  the  Sorbonne  heard  a  portion  of  the  lecture  of  Poret  on 
the  history  of  Philosophy,  in  which  he  considered  the  philosophical  opin- 
ions of  Heraclitus,  and  concluded  by  promising  to  discuss  those  of  Anaxago- 
ras.  After  this,  in  the  same  room,  I  heard  a  long  lecture  from  Guigniaut,1 
on  Geography.  The  professor  appeared  to  be  about  forty  or  forty- two  years 
old,  neatly  dressed,  with  rather  a  dark  countenance  and  dark  hair.  His 
manner  was  any  thing  but  fluent,  and  yet  he  was  very  much  excited  by  his 
subject.  He  treated  of  the  first  population  of  Greece,  so  that  his  lecture 
savored  of  an  historical  as  well  as  a  geographical  character.  Some  idea  of 
the  extensive  way  in  which  he  treated  the  subject  may  be  formed  from  the 
fact  that  this  point  alone  —  namely,  the  first  population  of  Greece  —  was  to 
be  treated  in  three  or  four  lectures. 

This  evening  received  an  invitation  from  M.  Foelix  to  dine  with  him 
to-morrow;  after  some  hesitation,  accepted  it. 

Jan.  28.  In  the  morning  went  to  the  other  side  of  the  river  for  the  fore- 
noon. Saw  my  friends,  the  Ticknors ;  read  newspapers  at  Galignani's ;  and 
punctually,  at  half-past  five,  presented  myself  at  the  apartments  of  M.  Foelix. 
I  was  shown  into  the  salon,  which  was  without  a  carpet,  where  I  found  the 
younger  of  the  two  sisters  of  Foelix,  and  also  a  gentleman,  whom  I  afterwards 
found  to  be  a  member  of  the  Chamber  of  Deputies,  —  I  could  not  catch  his 
name.  My  French  was  sadly  taxed  to  make  my  salutations  in  a  proper 
way.  I  succeeded  without  any  very  great  offence  against  grammar  or  pro- 
priety, and  entered  into  conversation.  Very  soon  appeared  the  elder  sister, 
who  speaks  a  little  English,  and  M.  Foelix,  and  a  German  of  quite  striking 
and  attractive  appearance,  about  fifty  years  of  age;  I  could  not  catch  his 
name,  —  I  think  it  was  Mohl.  When  dinner  was  announced,  the  German 
offered  his  arm  to  the  elder  sister  and  the  deputy  to  the  younger,  and  I 
walked  into  the  salle  a  manger  alone.  All  the  rooms  were  cold  as  the  arctics, 
but  there  was  a  little  stove  for  this  apartment,  which  came  near  the  table, 
by  the  side  of  which  I  was  placed,  as  a  mark  of  attention.  There  were  cards 
with  the  names  of  each  guest  placed  at  their  respective  plates.  In  the  course 
of  the  dinner  I  talked  with  the  elder  sister,  by  my  side,  in  English,  —  some- 
times both  speaking  English,  and  sometimes  I  speaking  French  and  she  speak- 
ing English.  In  the  course  of  the  dinner,  however,  I  was  appealed  to  by  the 
deputy  with  regard  to  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  and  those  of  the 
different  States;  the  qualifications  of  electors,  the  terms  of  office,  &c. ;  the 
present  state  of  parties,  slavery,  banks,  &c.  Excited  by  the  occasion,  I  threw 
myself  upon  my  resources  and  spoke.  I  felt  conscious  of  continual  blunders ; 
but  I  also  felt  that  I  was  understood,  so  that  I  was  making  language  serve 
its  principal  purpose,  —  namely,  to  convey  thought.    I  often  spoke  little  better 

*  Joseph  Daniel  Guigniaut  was  born  May  15,  1794.  His  studies  were  at  first  in  the 
ancient  mythologies,  and  afterwards  in  geography  and  history.  He  took  the  lead  in  found- 
ing the  French  School  at  Athens. 


244  MEMOIR  OF   CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1838. 

than  gibberish;  but  still  I  spoke  on.  This  was  a  triumph  to  me,  and  I  began 
to  feel,  for  the  first  time,  that  I  was  gradually  acquiring  the  language. 

At  table  to-day  nobody  drank  healths,  —  this  practice  being  peculiar,  I  be- 
lieve, to  England  and  the  United  States.  The  wines  were  all  light;  the  dinner 
was  an  ordinary  one,  hardly  better  than  that  which  is  served  every  day  at  the 
house  where  I  am.  As  I  sat  next  to  Mademoiselle  Foelix,  I  offered  to  relieve 
her  of  carving;  and  did  the  greater  part  of  the  carving  for  the  table.  I  was 
astonished  that  my  host  allowed  it ;  but  he  was  much  absorbed  in  the  conver- 
sation, and  is  evidently  very  little  a  man  of  the  world.  The  knives  and  forks 
were  not  changed  for  the  different  dishes,  though  the  plates  were;  and  Made- 
moiselle informed  me  that  it  was  not  the  custom  to  do  so  here.  We  all  left 
the  table  together,  and  entered  the  salon,  where  we  had  coffee,  —  the  poorest 
I  have  found  in  France.  My  friends  here  are  all  Germans,  and  probably 
have  not  the  mysterious  secret  which  all  French  seem  to  possess  of  making 
this  beverage.  The  salon  was  cold,  and  very  soon  we  all  adjourned  to  the 
cabinet  or  study  of  M.  Foelix.  Here  the  deputy  inquired  of  me  with  regard 
to  the  law  of  alluvion  in  the  United  States.  There  was  music  and  singing 
of  German  songs  by  one  or  more  of  three  young  men  who  now  formed  part 
of  the  company,  two  of  whom,  indeed,  were  at  the  dinner-table.  The  guitar 
was  offered  to  me  for  a  song!  The  gentlemen  left  about  ten  o'clock,  not 
shaking  hands  when  they  parted.  I  sat  an  hour  longer,  and  answered  the 
inquiries  of  the  ladies  with  regard  to  Boston  society,  about  which  they  were 
very  curious.  I  promised  Foelix  to  go  with  him  to  see  Baron  de  Gerando 
to-morrow  evening.     So  much  for  my  first  evening  in  foreign  society! 

Jan.  29.  At  the  £cole  de  Droit  heard  Perreyve1  for  a  few  minutes,  at 
the  conclusion  of  his  lecture.  He  was  quite  a  young  man,  and  did  not  interest 
me  much.  Next  heard  Rossi,  who  was  the  first  lecturer  that  I  heard  in  Paris, 
less  than  three  weeks  ago.  Then  I  could  not  understand  a  sentence  that  he 
uttered.  To-day  I  was  able  to  follow  him  through  the  greater  part  of  his 
lecture,  which  was  on  the  proper  qualifications  of  a  deputy  and  the  term  of 
service.  His  enunciation  was  occasionally  indistinct;  but  his  manner  was 
interesting  and  his  matter  good. .  In  the  course  of  his  remarks  he  sketched 
the  history  of  the  English  Parliament  with  regard  to  duration,  and  quoted 
Blackstone.  I  felt  much  at  home  while  he  did  this ;  it  seemed  as  if  house- 
hold words  were-  in  my  ears.  In  the  evening,  dressed  for  Baron  de  Geran- 
do's ;  Foelix  called  for  me  with  a  cabriolet.  We  found  that  the  baron  was 
ill;  so  I  returned  home  and  took  a  French  lesson. 

Jan.  30.  Jouffroy's  lecture  was  adjourned  on  account  of  indisposition. 
Many  of  the  professors  seem  to  find  occasions  for  adjournments,  for  every 
day  some  advertisement  appears  indicating  that  a  lecture  is  postponed.  To- 
day the  Professor  of  Geography  advertised  that  his  would  be  postponed, 
because  he  had  been  drawn  to  serve  in  the  National  Guard.  My  French  in- 
structor also  apologized  for  not  visiting  me  this  evening,  that  he  was  obliged 
to  do  duty  then  in  the  National  Guard.  Heard  an  interesting  lecture  from 
Geoffroy  Saint-Hilaire  on  zoology,  in  which  he  considered  the  subject  of  the 

l  Henri  Perreyve,  1799-1869. 


JEr.  27.]  A  STUDENT'S  OPPORTUNITIES  IN  PARIS.  245 

physical  adaptation  of  different  animals  to  their  peculiar  circumstances,  — 
their  teeth,  for  instance,  harmonizing  with  the  food,  whether  flesh  or  vege- 
table, which  their  appetite  leads  them  to  choose. 

In  the  evening  heard  the  Tartuffe.  Mademoiselle  Mars  did  not  play ;  but 
it  was  nevertheless  exceedingly  well  acted.  I  followed  the  actors  with  the 
book  in  my  hand. 


TO  GEORGE  S.  HILLARD. 

Paris,  Jan.  30,  1838. 

My  dear  Hillard,  —  ...  Since  I  have  been  here  my  time  has  been 
almost  entirely  employed  in  learning  to  speak  French,  and  in  attending  the 
lectures  of  the  Sorbonne  and  the  Nicole  de  Droit. 

I  have  not  attended  the  courts  or  the  Chamber  of  Deputies  yet,  because 
I  wish  to  reserve  these  till  my  knowledge  of  French  shall  enable  me  to  attend 
them  with  the  most  advantage.  I  attend  the  lectures,  as  a  good  opportunity 
of  hearing  French  spoken,  and  accustoming  my  ear  to  its  sound.  For  this 
purpose  I  have  also  been  to  the  theatre,  with  the  play  in  my  hand  to 
assist  me  in  following  the  actors.  As  yet  I  have  not  seen  one-quarter  of 
the  interesting  sights  in  Paris.  Distances  are  so  gigantic,  and  time  is  so 
precious,  that  I  cannot  accomplish  more  than  one  a  day.  The  Chamber  of 
Deputies,  the  courts,  Versailles,  and  Pere  La  Chaise  (Judge  Story  will  start 
at  this)  are  still  unvisited.  I  have  delivered  but  few  of  my  letters,  because 
I  was  unwilling  to  subject  myself  to  the  chance  of  civilities  and  the  time  they 
necessarily  take  up.  All  these  I  reserve  for  my  last  month.  In  fact,  I  have 
not  lived,  for  a  great  while,  so  cheaply  and  college-like  as  at  present.  .  .  . 
Paris,  beyond  my  anticipations,  presents  opportunities  to  a  studious  young 
man,  which  he  may  improve  at  small  cost.  You  know  the  supremacy  of  its 
schools  of  medicine :  they  have  not  been  overrated.  But  there  are  oppor- 
tunities afforded  for  knowledge  in  other  departments,  which  are  hardly  less 
important.  Besides,  here,  more  perhaps  than  elsewhere  in  the  world,  the 
human  heart  is  laid  bare ;  you  see  people  more  as  they  appear  in  Angelo's 
representation  of  the  great  Judgment  Day.  On  this  I  might  enlarge :  sat 
verbum.  Though  I  have  seen  much  to  interest  and  instruct  me,  I  have  seen 
nothing  which  has  weakened  my  attachment  to  my  country ;  neither  have  I 
yet  procured  mustaches  or  a  club  cane,  as  President  Quincy  predicted. 

Why  did  the  Northern  members  of  Congress  bear  the  infamous  bullying 
of  the  South?    Dissolve  the  Union,  I  say. 

Affectionately  yours,  C.  S. 


JOURNAL. 


Jan.  31,  1838.     At  seven  o'clock  this  morning  went  with  my  friend  Shat- 
tuck  to  the  Hotel  Dieu,  an  immense  hospital  where  there  are  twelve  hundred 


246  MEMOIR  OF  CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1838. 

beds.  Visited  the  wards  of  Roux ; 1  a  very  distinguished  surgeon,  who  was 
making  his  morning  circuit.  Students  followed  in  his  train  from  bed  to  bed, 
and  observed  his  examination  of  each  patient,  some  of  them  taking  notes  of 
the  results  of  the  examination.  Here  I  saw  wretchedness  indeed,  in  the 
shape  of  sores  of  all  kinds  and  broken  limbs,  which  made  me  shudder. 
Roux  appeared  to  be  about  fifty  years  old,  rather  stout  and  of  a  robust 
appearance,  but  of  about  the  common  height.  He  was  quick  in  his  speech, 
and  seemed  to  be  quite  passionate.  He  was  scolding  right  lustily  one  of  the 
students  attached  to  the  hospital,  who  was  tardy.  He  did  not  always  address 
the  patients  in  the  mildest  terms.  From  this  set  of  wards  we  passed  to  the 
wards  of  Louis,2  where  were  patients  who  required  simply  medical  treat- 
ment, or  rather  whose  complaints  were  internal.  Louis  is  considered  the 
great  medical  light  of  the  age.  He  has  revolutionized,  perhaps,  the  study  of 
medicine,  by  introducing  the  study  of  particular  cases,  and  combining  them 
and  arriving  at  general  results  with  regard  to  the  nature  of  different  diseases. 
He  has  devoted  himself  with  great  zeal  to  the  hospitals,  and  accumulated  a 
vast  deal  of  knowledge  from  his  minute  observation  of  a  great  number  of 
cases.  His  manner  of  examining  a  patient  is  said  to  be  admirable.  He  is 
a  tall  man,  with  a  countenance  that  seems  quite  passive.  His  questions  to 
the  patients  were  numerous  and  rapid.  After  this  examination  was  over, 
the  students  descended  to  a  lecture  room  in  the  Hotel  Dieu,  where  Louis 
gave  a  lecture  (clinical)  on  two  or  three  of  the  cases  which  they  had  observed 
upstairs.  I  was  able  to  understand  but  little.  It  was  spoken  of  as  an  admir- 
able lecture.  Louis  is  not  a  professor,  but  delivers  lectures  at  his  hospital 
gratuitously  and  for  the  mere  love  of  science,  —  sua.  sponte.  From  this  lecture 
room  I  passed  to  the  operating  room ;  the  operations  were  by  Roux. 

Received  to-day  a  letter  from  Hillard,  — my  first  token  from  Boston  since 
I  left.  It  is  to  me  like  the  leaf  of  olive  in  the  mouth  of  the  dove.  In  the 
midst  of  the  satiety  which  Paris  affords,  I  hunger  for  news  of  home. 

Feb.  1  (Thursday).  Took  the  eldest  son  of  Madame,  with  whom  I  board, 
—  a  lad  of  fifteen  years,  —  as  my  companion  in  my  walks,  for  the  sake  of  hav- 
ing somebody  with  whom  to  talk  French;  and  made  my  first  excursion  to-day 
through  the  Faubourg  St.  Germain,  the  residence  of  the  nobility  and  the 
wealthy  of  France,  to  the  Hotel  des  Invalides,  the  retreat  of  broken-down 
soldiers, — the  Greenwich  of  France.  The  establishment  is  vast  and  splen- 
did beyond  the  imagination  of  an  American,  and  betokens  the  munificence 
of  its  ambitious  founder,  Louis  XIV.  Here  was  a  kitchen,  where  carrots 
were  preparing  for  some  fricassee,  which  seemed  large  enough  for  an  army. 

Feb.  2.  Visited  for  a  few  moments  the  other  side  of  the  Seine,  and 
returned  to  my  French. 

Feb.  3.  At  eight  o'clock  this  morning  visited  the  church  of  the  Sor- 
bonne,  which  is  only  open  at  this  early  hour;  heard  a  priest  in  the  rich 

1  Joseph  Philibert  Roux,  1780-1854;  an  eminent  surgeon  and  successor  of  Dupuytren 
at  the  Hotel  Dieu. 

2  Pierre  Charles  Alexandre  Louis,  1787-1872  ;  an  eminent  pathologist  and  author  of  vari- 
ous works  on  medical  subjects.    He  retired  from  practice  in  1854. 


JEt.  27.]  BURNOUF,   SAINT-PRIX,  ROYER-COLLARD.  247 

livery  of  the  Catholic  Church,  who  stood  near  the  altar  muttering  the  matin 
service,  with  but  one  other  person  in  the  house,  and  that  the  official  who  had 
charge  of  the  building. 

From  the  church  I  passed  to  the  College  Royal  de  France,  where  I  heard 
Burnouf x  on  Eloquence  Latine.  He  is  a  gentleman  of  fifty-five  or  sixty, 
short  and  thick,  without  any  particular  marks  of  intelligence.  I  counted  in 
his  lecture  room  thirteen  students.  These  all  sat  round  a  long  table  at  the 
head  of  which  was  the  professor,  while  he  read  and  expounded  in  a  sufficiently 
humdrum  manner  some  passages  of  Sallust's  Jugurthine  War.  He  had 
Sallust  before  him;  first  read  a  few  sentences,  and  then  presented  a  transla- 
tion, commenting  as  he  went  along.  Nearly  all  the  students  took  notes;  they 
seemed  to  range  from  seventeen  to  twenty-one  or  twenty-two  years  of 
age.  From  this  amphitheatre  I  passed  to  the  Ecole  de  Droit,  where  I  first 
heard  Berriat  Saint-Prix,2  a  name  well  known  in  French  jurisprudence. 
He  had  the  red  costume  of  the  law  professors,  and  kept  his  red  hat  on  his 
head  during  his  lecture.  A  reason  for  this  may  be  found  iu  the  intolerable 
coldness  of  the  apartment.  He  is  an  old  man,  —  I  should  say  sixty-five  or 
seventy,  —  with  hair  white  with  age,  and  of  an  interesting  appearance.  His 
manner  wTas  interesting,  and  he  sprinkled  his  legal  commentary  upon  the 
Code  of  Procedure  with  some  plaisanteries,  the  exact  bearing  of  which  it  was 
difficult  for  me  to  comprehend.  I  sat  at  some  distance  from  him;  and  he 
spoke  so  low  that  I  could  hear  but  little  of  what  he  said.  After  him  I  heard 
in  the  Ecole  de  Droit  Royer-Collard,3  a  younger  man,  —  say  thirty-eight  or 
forty,  — full  in  body  and  face,  and  looking  as  if  well-fed  and  content  with 
the  world.  His  subject  was  the  Droit  des  gens;  and  he  was  considering  this 
morning  the  quality  of  Consuls.  He  commenced  by  reviewing  the  history 
of  antiquity  to  see  if  there  were  any  persons  recognized,  anterior  to  modern 
times,  as  consuls.  His  manner  was  clear;  his  arrangement  seemed  to  be 
natural,  consecutive,  and  just;  and  his  voice  was  so  full  and  his  enunciation 
so  distinct,  that  I  lost  scarcely  a  sentence.  After  this,  returned  to  my  break- 
fast and  gave  the  rest  of  my  day  to  French. 

Feb.  4.     Visited  the  other  side  of  the  river,  and  studied  French. 

Feb.  5.  At  the  College  de  France,  at  eight  o'clock  this  morning,  heard 
De  Portets  on  the  Droit  des  gens.  He  was  a  man  apparently  about  fifty, 
stoutly  and  substantially  built,  with  iron-gray  hair.  His  lecture  had  no 
elegance  of  manner,  but  was  distinct.  There  were  only  four  or  five  per- 
sons present.  His  object  appeared  to  be  to  show  that  all  the  races  of  men 
have  a  common  origin,  that  of  course  they  must  be  substantially  alike  at 

1  Jean  Louis  Burnouf,  1775-1844.  He  was  a  student  of  the  Greek  and  Latin  classics, 
and  became  a  professor  in  1817.  He  translated  into  French  Cicero's  orations  against  Cati- 
liue,  his  "  Brutus,"  and  "  De  Officiis,"  and  the  works  of  Tacitus. 

2  Jacques  Berriat  Saint-Prix,  1769-1845.  He  became  a  teacher  of  the  law  as  early  as 
1796,  and  a  lecturer  at  the  Ecole  de  Droit  in  1819.  He  taught  law  as  a  science,  and  ex- 
pounded it  in  many  publications. 

3  Albert  Paul  Royer-Collard,  1797-1865;  nephew  of  the  eminent  French  statesman 
(Pierre  Paul).  His  favorite  study  was  the  law  of  nations.  He  was,  1845-1847,  the  dean 
of  the  Law  Faculty. 


248  MEMOIR  OF   CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1838. 

present,  and  that  the  principles  of  the  law  of  Nature,  therefore,  must  be  uni- 
versal. From  his  lecture  room  I  passed  to  the  Ecole  de  Droit,  where  T  found 
an  audience  of  five  hundred  listening  to  a  thick,  black-headed  man,  M. 
Bugnet; 1  who  was  speaking  on  the  code,  commenting  on  some  sections  of  the 
title  relating  to  marriage. 

This  evening,  was  persuaded  by  a  friend  to  sacrifice  a  French  lesson  and 
visit  the  French  Opera,  to  witness  the  opera  of  the  Huguenots,  founded  on 
the  massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew.  The  French  Opera  was  large  and  bril- 
liant beyond  my  anticipation,  the  stage  extensive,  the  scenery  imposing, 
and  the  whole  machinery  of  the  piece  a  wonderful  spectacle.  The  Due  de 
Nemours,2  a  tall  youth  of  about  twenty-three  or  twenty-four,  the  second  son 
of  the  King,  was  pointed  out  to  me  in  a  conspicuous  box  near  the  stage.  This 
theatre,  like  many  others,  is  under  the  patronage  of  Government,  its  expenses 
being  included  in  the  civil  list. 

Feb.  6.  Jouffroy  was  to-day  again  prevented  from  lecturing,  on  ac- 
count of  indisposition.  I  heard  again  Geoffroy  Saint-Hilaire  on  zoology. 
He  was  pursuing  the  subject  which  he  treated  when  I  last  heard  him,  — the 
harmony  between  the  different  parts  of  animals.  He  seems  to  be  very  popu- 
lar; the  close  of  his  lecture  is  invariably  attended  by  applause,  and  some- 
times there  is  a  straggling  "  bravo." 

Feb.  7.  Dined  by  invitation  to-day  with  Mr.  O'Donnell,  to  whom  I 
brought  a  letter  of  introduction  from  Mr.  McNally  of  Baltimore.  He  was 
a  simple  man  in  his  appearance,  about  forty  or  forty-two  years  old,  who  I 
believe  lives  at  Paris  for  the  sake  of  economy.  He  is  a  constant  writer  in 
"Blackwood,"  being  the  author  of  all  the  articles  of  late  in  that  journal  on 
the  subject  of  France.  I  talked  with  him  considerably  in  relation  to  the  du- 
ties of  the  editor,  &c.  He  told  me  that  Wilson  had  fifteen  hundred  pounds  a 
year  as  editor,  and  that  contributors  received  sixteen  guineas  a  sheet;  that 
the  duty  of  the  editor  is  to  write  for  the  journal,  and  lend  his  name  to  it, 
and  to  examine  or  read  a  contribution  from  an  untried  hand ;  that  the  editor 
never  reads  the  contributions  of  one  of  the  regular  corps,  but  that  these  are 
sent  direct  to  the  printer:  further,  that  the  editor  never  alters  the  manuscript 
of  an  article,  but  preserves  the  ipsissima  verba  of  the  writer;  and,  if  the  article 
in  the  shape  presented  is  not  worthy  of  publication,  it  is  returned,  without 
any  troublesome  attempt  on  the  part  of  the  editor  to  put  it  into  shape.  I 
have  noted  these  things,  as  they  are  different  somewhat  from  the  practice  in 
America.  The  Nodes  Ambrosiance  Mr.  O'Donnell  told  me  had  been  dis- 
continued, on  account  of  the  death  of  Ambrose,  in  whose  tavern  they  were 
represented  as  taking  place,  and  also  of  Hogg  and  some  others. 

Feb.  8.  Heard  this  morning  before  breakfast  Royer-Collard  and  Pon- 
celet8  at  the  iCcole  de  Droit.      The  former  continued  his  review  of  the 

1  Jean  Joseph  Bugnet,  1793-1866.  He  was  remarkable  for  the  clearness  of  his  exposi- 
tions of  the  Code  Civil.    He  edited  Pothier's  works. 

2  The  Due  de  Nemours,  the  second  son  of  Louis  Philippe,  was  born  Oct.  25, 1814.  He 
was  an  exile  from  1848  to  1871. 

8  Francois  Fr^denc  Poncelet,  1790-1843.  He  translated  German  works  on  the  Roman 
law,  which  he  also  illustrated  by  his  own  writings. 


^t.  27.]  THE  HOSPITALS   OF  PARIS.  249 

character  and  situation  of  Consuls.  The  latter  lectured  on  the  history  of  law, 
and  was  speaking  to-day  upon  customary  law.  His  voice  was  indistinct,  so 
that  I  was  not  able  to  gather  much  from  him.  He  was  a  man  of  about  thirty- 
five  or  thirty-eight,  with  nothing  striking  or  prepossessing  in  his  manner. 

Feb.  9.  Heard  Magendie1  this  morning,  at  the  College  Royal  de  France. 
He  is  renowned  for  killing  cats  and  dogs,  as  well  as  for  thorough  scien- 
tific attainments,  I  believe.  He  is  a  man  apparently  about  fifty,  rather 
short  and  stout,  with  a  countenance  marked  by  the  small-pox.  There  were 
no  less  than  three  murdered  dogs  brought  upon  his  table  while  I  was  there, 
in  order  to  illustrate  the  different  appearance  of  the  blood  at  certain  times 
after  death.  From  Magendie  I  went  to  the  Ecole  de  Droit,  where  I  stumbled 
accidentally  upon  an  examination  of  a  law  student  for  some  degree,  whether 
that  of  Bachelor  of  Laws,  Licentiate,  Avocat,  or  what,  I  could  not  tell.  The 
examination  was  conducted  by  M.  Oudot,  a  professor  whom  I  have  not  heard 
lecture  as  yet,  but  who  in  manner  and  figure  seemed  not  unlike  Henry  VIII. 
Before  the  examination  was  concluded  three  other  professors  entered,  all  in 
their  robes  and  red  hats.  The  student  under  examination  was  habited  in  a 
black  gown  of  some  woollen  stuff. 

Next  heard  M.  Rossi,  whom  I  have  already  heard  repeatedly,  on  admin- 
istrative law.  He  considered  the  House  of  Peers;  and,  by  way  of  illustra- 
tion, glanced  at  that  of  England.  To-day  also  visited,  for  the  second  time, 
the  church  of  St.  Fjtienne,  where  are  the  tombs  of  Pascal  and  Boileau,  and  of 
St.  Genevieve,  the  patron  saint  of  Paris. 

Feb.  10.  Before  breakfast  went  to  the  Hopital  de  la  Charite,  one  of  the  great 
hospitals  which  make  Paris  such  a  profitable  resort  for  the  student  of  medi- 
cine. The  buildings  were  quite  old  and  rugged,  but  vast  and  with  spacious 
courts.  The  great  surgeon,  Velpeau,2  has  charge  of  the  surgical  wards  at 
this  institution,  and,  as  professor,  lectures.  He  is  followed  through  his  wards 
in  the  morning  by  an  army  of  students  with  their  note-books.  Every  kind 
of  hurt,  swelling,  and  loathsome  complaint  seems  to  collect  here;  at  all  of 
which  these  students  and  their  teacher  look  with  an  undisturbed  countenance. 
Blessed  be  science,  which  has  armed  man  with  knowledge  and  resolution  to 
meet  these  forms  of  human  distress !  From  the  wards  we  passed  to  the  lect- 
ure room  connected  therewith,  where  Velpeau,  in  a  plain  way,  explained 
some  of  the  cases  which  they  had  just  seen  in  the  wards ;  this  being  done,  he 
took  up  the  thread  of  his  regular  course  of  lectures,  which  at  this  stage  re- 
lated to  the  eye  and  its  complaints.  He  appears  to  be  about  fifty,  of  the 
middle  size,  and  with  a  mild  gentle  countenance.  From  the  lecture  room 
passed  to  the  consultation  room,  where  the  poor  called  and  exhibited  to  him 
their  ailments  and  received  gratuitous  attention,  the  students  forming  a  circle 
around,  and  of  course  observing  the  patient. 

Feb.  11  (Sunday).     Dined  with  Mr.  Ticknor.     After  dinner  an  Italian 

1  Francois  Magendie,  1783-1855.  He  was  eminent  as  a  physiologist,  and  tested  the 
science  by  experiments.  More  than  his  predecessors  he  used  living  animals  for  the  purpose. 

2  Alfred  Armand  Louis  Marie  Velpeau,  1795-1867.  He  wrote  upon  surgical  anatomy 
and  obstetrics,  and  was  eminent  in  the  clinical  art. 


250  MEMOIR  OF   CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1888. 

came  in,  who  was  a  literary  man  of  some  rank,  —  Ugoni.1  He  was  upwards 
of  fifty,  and  spoke  with  a  strong  Italian  accent. 

Feb.  12.  This  morning  rose  before  seven  o'clock;  first  went  to  that  im- 
mense receptacle  of  all  diseases,  the  Hotel  Dieu,  where  I  witnessed,  for  a 
second  time,  the  rapid  and  fierce  manner  of  Roux  in  his  surgical  wards,  and 
the  slow  and  exact  philosophical  examination  of  Louis.  From  the  Hotel 
Dieu  I  passed  through  the  He  de  la  Cite,  and  the  part  of  the  city  in  front  of 
that  to  the  Hopital  St.  Louis,  situated  at  the  other  extreme  of  the  city,  and 
devoted  chiefly  to  diseases  of  the  skin. 

Feb.  13.  Early  went  to  the  Sorbonne ;  heard  Saint-Marc  Girardin  2  on  the 
character  of  Jean  Jacques  Rousseau ,  the  favorite  author  of  the  French.  There 
was  something  in  Rousseau's  conduct  and  mind  which  is  not  an  unfit  type  of 
the  French  character.  In  both  we  behold  the  rankest  vegetation  of  vice  inter- 
mingled with  the  most  brilliant  flowers  of  the  intellect.  The  lecturer  to-day 
evidently  loved  his  subject.  He  treated  it  with  eloquence  and  ardor.  The 
room  was  a  little  cold,  and  he  kept  his  hat  on  (a  common  hat)  during  his 
lecture.  He  was  quite  simple  and  unadorned  in  his  person,  and  about  thirty- 
seven.  From  the  Sorbonne  to  the  iScole  de  Droit,  where  I  heard  Royer- 
Collard  again,  on  the  subject  of  Consuls. 

Visited  this  forenoon  the  Palais  du  Luxembourg,  which  was  built  by 
Marie  de  Medicis,  though  it  still  retains  the  name  of  the  palace  whose 
ancient  site  it  occupies.  It  is  now  occupied  by  the  Chamber  of  Peers;  but 
there  are  several  large  rooms  which  are  not  needed  for  the  purposes  of  the 
peers.  Here  is  the  collection  of  paintings  by  the  modern  artists  of  France. 
Classical  scenes  seem  to  be  more  taken  than  Scriptural  now-a-days;  and 
Helen  and  Paris  are  instead  of  the  Virgin  and  the  Infant.  The  painting 
seems  to  be  of  an  extremely  sensuous  character;  the  forms  of  women  and 
men  are  displayed  with  great  freedom,  and  the  most  careful  tints  from 
the  pencil  invest  them  with  more  than  flesh-like  attractiveness.  I  do  not 
know  enough  to  compare  these  artists  with  the  giants,  some  of  whose  pict- 
ures still  charm  from  the  walls  of  the  Louvre;  and  I  feel  unwilling,  with- 
out making  an  effort  at  judgment,  to  fall  in  with  the  current  which 
seems  to  set  against  the  present  school.  In  the  modern  productions  there 
are  great  beauty,  brilliancy,  and  finish  of  coloring,  — whether  it  will  endure 
is  another  question,  —  and  all  the  persons  and  scenes  represented  are  very 
much  idealized.  There  seems  none  of  the  roughness  of  Nature  wThich 
the  older  artists  often  hit  upon;  all  is  smooth  and  gilded.  I  visited  the 
ancient  chapel  of  Marie  de  Medicis,  in  which,  as  my  cicerone  (a  gabbling 
old  woman)  told  me,  the  daughters  of  peers  are  married  at  the  present 

1  Camillo  Ugoni,  1784-1856.  He  was  a  translator  of  Horace  and  Caesar;  but  his  chief 
■work  was  a  "History  of  Italian  Literature."     He  was  an  exile  from  1821  to  1838. 

2  Saint-Marc  Girardin,  1801-1873.  In  1830,  he  succeeded  Guizot  as  Professor  of  History. 
From  1834  to  1863  he  was  Professor  of  French  Poetry  at  the  Sorbonne.  He  was  a  con- 
tributor to  the  Journal  des  Debats  and  the  Revue  des  Deux  Mondes.  His  writings  related 
chiefly  to  French  literature.  As  Minister  of  Public  Instruction  in  1848,  and  as  a  member 
of  the  Chamber  of  Deputies,  he  interested  himself  to  promote  education.  After  twenty 
years'  retirement  from  politics,  he  entered  the  National  Assembly  in  1871,  and  was  chosen 
its  Vice-President. 


jEt.  27.]  FRENCH  LAWYERS  AND  LAW-WRITERS.  251 

day;  also  visited  some  other  apartments,  beautiful  indeed,  which  are  used 
as  committee-rooms  by  the  peers,  particularly  the  bedchamber  of  Marie 
de  Medicis,  which  was  a  truly  royal  apartment,  decorated  in  the  most  sump- 
tuous style,  with  panels  richly  gilt  and  painted  in  compartments  by  Nicolas 
Poussin,  and  with  the  ceiling  richly  painted  by  Rubens  and  Champagne. 
Such  aid  did  the  arts  lend  to  the  luxury  of  palaces ;  and  such  splendors  were 
displayed  in  the  bedchamber  of  a  princess ! 

Called  on  Mr.  Warden 1  this  morning,  with  a  letter  of  introduction  from 
Mr.  Sparks.  He  treated  me  quite  civilly.  He  was  formerly  American  consul, 
and  is  at  present  a  member  of  the  French  Institute.  In  the  evening,  called 
upon  Foelix;  he  was  just  going  out  upon  business,  and  without  any  cere- 
mony left  me  to  talk  with  his  sisters.  I  spent  about  two  hours  or  more 
"  airing  "  my  French  in  this  conversation. 

Feb.  14.  Heard  this  morning,  at  the  iCcole  de  Droit,  M.  Oudot,2  whom  I 
had  formerly  seen  presiding  at  an  examination  of  students.  He  lectured  on 
hypothecation.     His  manner  was  uninteresting. 

This  forenoon,  took  a  walk  through  the  Faubourg  St.  Germain,  the  seat 
of  the  old  noblesse  of  France.  The  houses  are  large  and  magnificent;  but 
they  stand  back  from  the  street,  and  have  in  front  a  high  stone  wall,  say  ten 
feet  high.  There  is  a  wide  porte-cochere,  the  entrance  to  the  court  on  which 
the  houses  stand. 

This  evening  visited  Foelix,  where  I  met  the  German  gentleman  whom  I 
had  formerly  met  at  dinner.  He  has  kindly  invited  me  to  pass  a  week  with 
him  at  his  house  on  the  banks  of  the  Rhine,  and  I  have  accepted  his  invita- 
tion. I  talked  with  Foelix  of  Judge  Story.  He  told  me  that  there  was  no 
lawyer  in  France  equal  to  him,  though  there  were  some  in  Germany.  I  was 
astonished  when  he  further  told  me  that  the  Bibliotheque  du  Roi  did  not 
contain  all  the  books  cited  in  the  "Conflict  of  Laws;"  and  that,  of  the 
thousand  lawyers  at  Paris,  there  were  nine  hundred  and  ninety-nine  who  did 
not  even  know  of  the  existence  of  all  these  books.  Thus  has  Judge  Story 
beaten  them  on  their  own  ground.  After  this,  talked  with  regard  to  the  rules 
for  admission  to  the  bar ;  and  also  about  several  of  the  law-writers  and  pro- 
fessors. Foelix  thought  the  greater  part  of  the  books  of  the  present  day  were 
absolutely  good  for  nothing.  He  excepted  Toullier 8  and  Pardessus ; 4  but 
Duranton5  and  his  twenty  volumes  he  abused  heartily,  characterizing  him  as 

1  David  B.  Warden,  M.D.,  was  born  in  Ireland,  in  1778,  and  died,  in  1845,  in  Paris, 
where  be  had  resided  as  Consul  of  the  United  States  for  forty  years.  He  wrote  upon  the 
"  Faculties  and  Literature  of  Negroes  "  and  "Consular  Establishments,"  and  was  the  author 
of  miscellaneous  papers  on  America. 

2  Francois  Julien  Oudot,  1804-1864. 

8  1752-1835;  author  of  a  work  in  fourteen  volumes  on  "  The  French  Civil  Law  according 
to  the  Order  of  the  Code  Napoleon." 

4  Jean  Marie  Pardessus,  1772-1853.  His  works  on  commercial  and  maritime  law  are  of 
high  authority.  He  took  the  chair  of  Commercial  Law  when  it  was  established,  in  1810. 
He  was  in  the  Corps  Legislatif  from  1807  to  1811,  and  again  from  1820  to  1830.  He  re- 
mained loyal  to  the  Bourbons  after  the  Revolution  of  1830,  and  was  then  deprived  of  his 
professorship. 

5  Alexandre  Duranton,  1783-1866 ;  author  of  a  treatise  on  Contracts,  and  also  of  Com- 
mentaries on  the  Code  Civil,  in  twenty-two  volumes,  entitled,  Cours  de  Droit  Franqau 
suivant  le  Code  Civil. 


252  MEMOIR  OF  CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1838. 

a  charlatan,  who  knew  nothing  of  principles,  and  who  was  very  much  dis- 
liked by  his  brother  professors;  Oudot,  also,  whom  I  had  heard  this  morning, 
was  a  charlatan,  — and  this  I  believe;  M.  Rossi,  an  able  man,  but paresseux. 
All  were  kind  enough  to  remark  this  evening  that  I  had  gained  a  great 
deal  of  French ;  that  they  were  astonished  at  my  progress.  I  just  begin  to 
enjoy  conversation,  and  the  sensation  is  delightful.  My  greatest  difficulty  is 
promptly  to  command  the  proper  form  of  salutation  when  I  enter  a  room. 
After  I  am  once  started,  I  find  myself  able  to  run  on  with  some  comparative 
facility,  but  of  course  with  constant  blunders. 


TO  JUDGE  STORY. 

Paris,  Feb.  14,  1838. 
My  dear  Judge,  — ...  I  have  not  yet  heard  Duranton,  though  I  have 
heard  nearly  all  the  other  professors  at  the  Sorbonne  and  the  iCcole  de  Droit. 
I  generally  hear  two  or  three  lectures  of  an  hour  or  more  each  before  breakfast. 
I  am  particularly  attending  to  the  style  of  lecturing  on  different  subjects,  — 
law,  literature,  mathematics,  philosophy,  &c,  —  and  when  I  have  completed 
my  observations  I  shall  let  you  have  the  results.  Then  for  the  courts,  which 
at  present  remain  unvisited.  Time  flies,  and  it  seems  as  if  I  had  seen  noth- 
ing of  the  immense  store  of  interesting  objects  at  Paris.  All  my  hours  are 
occupied  far  into  the  watches  of  the  night.  So  far  as  labor  is  concerned,  I 
should  much  prefer  to  be  again  in  my  office  dealing  with  clients  and  familiar 
law  books.  Travelling,  with  my  desires  and  determinations,  is  no  sinecure. 
I  am  obliged  to  husband  all  my  minutes.  .  .  .  Has  William  written  me  yet? 
He  must  tell  every  thing  about  Cambridge  and  your  family.  I  hope  Mr. 
Greenleaf  will  not  forget  me  because  I  have  not  lately  written  him. 

As  ever,  affectionately  yours,  C.  S. 


JOURNAL. 


Feb.  15, 1838.  In  the  morning  before  breakfast,  heard  Berriat  Saint-Prix 
at  the  Law  School.  He  did  not  appear  less  venerable  this  time  than  when  I 
saw  him  before.  He  held  his  snuff-box  in  his  hand  during  all  his  lecture,  and 
occasionally  rapped  with  it  for  silence,  calling  out,  Unpen  de  silence  !  About 
the  middle  of  his  lecture,  he  stopped  for  a  moment,  rose,  and  walked  backwards 
and  forwards, — to  rest,  perhaps,  his  ancient  limbs,  —  and  then  proceeded. 
After  his  lecture,  he  said  he  would  attend  to  examinations;  and  about  half-a- 
dozen  students  came  forward,  handed  their  names,  and  then  resumed  their 
seats,  when  the  professor  called  them,  one  by  one  (Monsieur  A.,  &c),  and 
proposed  questions,  apparently  in  the  law  of  Procedure,  upon  which  he  lec- 
tured. Each  student  answered  to  four  or  five  questions.  I  presume  that  this 
examination  is  one  of  the  many  which  a  student  undergoes  preparatory  to 
admission  to  the  bar. 


Mr.  27.]  A  DINNER  WITH  GENERAL  CASS.  253 

In  the  afternoon  visited  the  Anatomical  Museum  and  the  dissecting 
rooms.  In  these  rooms  are  about  fifty  subjects  constantly,  presenting  the 
amplest  opportunities  for  the  student.  There  were  five  different  rooms,  in 
each  of  which  were  twelve  iron  tables ;  and  each,  in  the  two  rooms  which  I 
entered,  had  one  or  more  subjects.  With  gladness  did  I  drink  a  long  draught 
of  fresh  air  when  I  passed  from  these  shambles  of  death ;  the  air  within  wa« 
worse  than  that  of  a  tomb. 

In  the  evening  dined  with  Mr.  Cass,1  at  17  Avenue  Matignon.  Mrs.  Cass 
did  not  appear  at  table,  being  ill.  The  company  consisted  of  about  fif- 
teen or  sixteen ;  and  among  them  the  Mexican  ambassador  and  an  English- 
man with  a  title,  and  a  star  on  his  coat,  whose  name  I  did  not  catch. 
The  table  was  splendid,  and  the  attendance  perfect;  servants  in  small- 
clothes constantly  supplying  you  with  some  new  luxury.  I  sat  next  to 
the  lady  of  "Milord  English,"  and  found  her  good-natured  rather  than 
sensible  or  informed ;  a  far  superior  lady  from  the  South  of  my  own  coun- 
try was  on  my  other  side.  This  being  the  evening  of  the  soirees  of  General 
Cass,  I  stayed  after  dinner  for  that.  I  should  say  that  all  left  the  table 
together,  and  gentlemen  did  not  linger  behind  to  drink  wine  and  tell  stories, 
or  discuss  politics.  Of  course,  much  less  wine  was  drunk  than  at  an  Amer- 
ican table;  though  there  was  offered  some  of  almost  every  kind.  General 
Cass's  Hotel  is  furnished  sumptuously.  On  entering,  your  name  is  received 
by  a  servant,  who  announces  it.  We  were  received  in  a  small  salon,  to  reach 
which  we  passed  through,  besides  the  antechamber,  a  billiard  room,  and  a 
large  and  splendid  salon  ;  the  dinner  was  in  yet  another  salle.  In  the  evening 
company  was  received  in  both  the  salons.  Mr.  Cass  is  a  man  of  large  private 
fortune,  and  is  said  to  live  in  a  style  superior  to  that  of  any  minister  ever 
sent  by  America. 

Feb.  16.  In  the  morning  before  breakfast  visited  the  wards  of  Dubois  2 
in  the  Hospice  de  la  Faculte.  These  are  devoted  to  accouchements.  Dubois 
appeared  an  admirable  man  for  this  duty.  He  was  mild,  attentive,  and  I 
should  think  quite  intelligent  and  experienced.  After  the  progress  had  been 
made  through  the  wards,  he  delivered  a  clinical  lecture  on  some  of  the  cases 
which  had  passed  under  observation.  As  a  lecturer  he  was  good.  The  day 
being  rainy,  I  stayed  in  the  house  the  remainder  of  the  time. 

Feb.  17.  This  morning  again  followed  Dubois  in  his  wards;  and  also 
Jules  Cloquet 8  in  some  of  his.  He  is  a  surgeon  of  considerable  eminence, 
and  an  author.  He  appeared  to  be  rather  a  young  man  for  his  position,  say 
thirty-five;  but  he  must  be  older.  After  he  had  gone  through  his  wards,  he 
repaired  to  the  lecture  room;  where,  in  presence  of  the  students,  he  gave 
gratuitous  advice  to  Malades  who  presented  themselves.     In  the  afternoon 

1  Lewis  Cass,  1782-1866 ;  afterwards  United  States  Senator  and  Secretary  of  State. 

2  Baron  Paul  Antoine  Dubois,  1795-1871;  celebrated  both  in  the  practice  and  teaching 
of  his  profession,  and  as  a  writer  upon  obstetrics.  He  was  accoucheur  to  the  Empress 
Eugenie  at  the  birth  of  the  Prince  Imperial. 

3  Baron  Jules  Germain  Cloquet,  1790-.  He  succeeded  in  1831  to  the  chair  of  Clinical 
Surgery.  He  was  the  author  of  a  treatise  on  "  Human  Anatomy,"  and  the  inventor  of  sur- 
gical instruments.    He  published  "Recollections  of  Lafayette." 


254  MEMOIR  OF  CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1838. 

dined  with  Mr.  Draper  a  at  the  Rocher  de  Cancale.2  There  are  several  res- 
taurants at  Paris  that  claim  pre-eminence,  —  Grignon's,  Very's,  Vefour's, 
Perigord's,  and,  primus  inter  pares,  the  Rocher  de  Cancale. 

Feb.  18.  To-day,  visited  the  hall  of  the  Chamber  of  Peers;  after  this 
drove  to  the  Bois  de  Boulogne.  .  .  . 

Feb.  19.  This  morning,  heard  M.  Bugnet  at  the  Scole  de  Droit,  who  spoke 
to  a  very  full  audience,  — the  large  amphitheatre  being  completely  filled.  At 
half -past  two  went  with  Mr.  Warden  to  attend  a  meeting  of  the  far-famed  In- 
stitute of  France.  The  building  devoted  to  the  sittings  of  this  memorable 
body  is  quite  large  and  ancient.  The  meeting  to-day  was  of  the  Academy  of 
Sciences.  Their  hall  is  not  so  large  as  either  of  our  court-rooms  in  Bos- 
ton. It  is  a  parallelogram.  The  walls  are  adorned  by  portraits  of  men 
eminent  in  science  and  literature  in  France.  At  three  o'clock  the  session 
commenced.  The  proces  verbal,  or  journal,  of  the  last  meeting  was  read,  and 
then  memoirs  upon  different  subjects;  one  upon  steamboats,  the  person  read- 
ing the  memoir  sitting  at  a  table  in  front  of  the  president.  After  the 
memoirs  had  been  read,  the  secretary,  M.  Arago  (a  man  whose  personal 
appearance  reminded  me  of  Mr.  Bailey,8  the  schoolmaster  of  Boston),  read 
the  different  communications,  amounting  to  a  dozen  or  more.  It  was  then 
announced  that  the  Academy  would  go  into  secret  session ;  and  all  strangers 
retired.  I  was  honored  with  a  seat,  by  invitation  of  the  president,  within 
the  bar,  directly  by  the  side  of  the  persons  who  read  memoirs. 

In  the  evening  went  to  the  Baron  de  Gerando's.4  I  had  a  letter  of  intro- 
duction to  him  from  Dr.  Channing;  and  on  Saturday  last  I  left  it  with  my 
card.  On  the  next  day  I  received  M.  de  Gerando's  card  and  an  invitation  to 
his  soirees.  I  went  this  evening  with  M.  Foelix.  De  Gerando  is  an  old  gen- 
tleman, full  of  goodness  of  heart,  and  he  gave  me  a  most  cordial  reception. 
He  presented  me  to  his  niece,  who  appeared  to  be  the  mistress  of  the  house; 
and  who  did  the  honors  with  great  grace  and  cordiality.  The  salon  was 
of  about  the  size  of  an  American  parlor;  and  the  walls  were  hung  round 
with  pictures.  There  were  about  as  many  ladies  as  gentlemen;  and  the 
appearance  of  things  was  little  different  from  that  of  a  small  party  in  our 
country.  Ladies  do  not,  as  with  us,  enter  the  room  on  the  arm  of  a  gentleman, 
or  take  a  gentleman's  arm  to  walk  across  the  room.     I  think  they  were 

1  The  banker. 

2  Then  the  most  celebrated  restaurant  of  Paris,  and  situated  in  the  Passage  du  Saumon. 
8  Ebenezer  Bailey,  who  died  in  1839. 

4  Baron  Joseph  Marie  de  Gerando,  philosopher  and  publicist,  was  born  in  Lyons  in  1772, 
and  died  in  Paris  in  1842.  During  the  French  Revolution  he  was  by  turns  soldier  and  exile. 
Under  Napoleon  he  was  in  public  service  at  home  and  in  Italy.  He  became  a  Councillor  of 
State  in  1811,  and  retained  the  office,  with  a  brief  interruption,  until  his  death.  He  was 
made  a  Peer  in  1837.  In  his  youth  he  developed  a  faculty  for  metaphysics,  winning  a  prize 
from  the  Institute  for  an  essay  on  the  influence  of  signs  on  the  formation  of  ideas ;  and  in 
this  science  he  attained  a  deserved  distinction.  His  department  in  the  Ecole  de  Droit  was 
administrative  law.  He  investigated,  both  in  books  and  visits  to  institutions  in  France, 
Switzerland,  and  Germany,  philanthropic  schemes  for  the  improvement  of  public  health, 
industry,  and  education,  and  for  the  administration  of  charities.  He  published  in  1839,  in 
four  volumes,  the  work  which  he  was  writing  when  Sumner  was  in  Paris,  on  "Public 
Beneficence,"  — De  la  Bienfaisance  Publique. 


.Et.  27.]  THE  FOUNDLING  HOSPITAL.  256 

more  neglected  at  this  soiree  than  ladies  are  with  us.  They  sat  on  the  sofas, 
almost  entirely  by  themselves ;  and  at  the  latter  part  of  the  evening  another 
room  was  opened,  and  they  went  in  to  get  some  confitures,  I  think,  a  whole 
troop,  with  scarcely  a  single  gentleman.  Among  the  gentlemen  I  met  here 
was  M.  Pellat,1  the  professor  who  lectures  on  the  "Pandects  "  at  the  ficole  de 
Droit,  and  with  whom  I  had  considerable  conversation;  and  another  gentle- 
man, whose  name  I  do  not  recollect,  who  has  just  published  a  work  upon 
the  establishments  for  En/ants  Trouves  in  Europe.  Several  others  I  was 
introduced  to,  and  conversed  with,  but  cannot  remember  their  names.  De 
Gerando  was  so  kind  as  to  authorize  me  to  use  him  in  any  way  in  which  he 
could  be  of  service.     He  expressed  a  great  interest  in  Dr.  Channing. 

Feb.  20.  Visited  the  Observatory,  where  is  the  meridian  line  of  France, 
a  building  which  seems  made  for  immortality.  There  is  hardly  any  thing  in 
it  but  stone;  neither  wood  nor  iron;  the  floors  are  of  stone,  and  also  the 
stairs.  After  this,  visited  the  Hospice  des  Enfants  Trouves,  an  institution 
at  which  an  American  might  well  be  astonished.  This  is  the  receptacle  of 
the  foundlings  of  Paris;  and  upwards  of  one  hundred  are  left  here  each 
week,  making  more  than  six  thousand  during  the  year.  The  argument  for 
such  establishments  is  that  they  prevent  infanticide  by  furnishing  an  asylum 
for  infants.  There  is  a  little  box  with  a  green  cushion,  about  large  enough 
for  an  infant,  which  opens  on  the  street ;  into  this  the  child  is  put  by  the 
parent  or  other  person  intrusted  with  it,  and  at  the  same  time  the  box  is 
turned  round,  a  bell  being  made  to  ring  by  the  act  of  turning,  and  the  little 
thing  is  received  into  its  new  asylum.2  If  the  infant  is  well,  it  is  very 
soon  put  out  to  nurse  in  the  country.  There  were  about  one  hundred  and 
fifty  in  the  Hospice.  It  was  a  strange  sight  to  see  so  many  children  all  of  an 
age,  ranged  in  rows,  in  their  little  cradles.  There  was  a  large  number  with 
sick  eyes,  and  many  with  other  complaints.  The  curtains  of  many  were 
drawn  aside  that  I  might  see  them.  In  one  cradle  I  observed  that  the 
countenance  was  pallid  and  the  mouth  open,  and  I  said  to  my  attendant, 
Elle  est  rnorte.  The  attendant  doubted,  and  thought  that  she  perceived  a 
breath  from  the  mouth.  I  touched  the  cheek;  and  it  was  very  evident  that 
the  poor  child  was  dead,  —  it  was  cold  as  marble.  It  was  melancholy  to  see 
even  an  infant  that  had  died  without  any  attendant  affectionately  watching; 
and  who  breathed  its  last,  with  the  curtains  of  its  little  cradle  closed 
against  all  sight.  Every  thing  appeared  neat  and  well-managed  in  this 
institution.  I  next  went  to  the  church  of  the  Val  de  Grace,  which  was 
built  by  Anne  of  Austria,  the  mother  of  Louis  XIV.  It  is  a  beautiful 
architectural  relic  of  those  times. 

In  the  evening  visited  Foelix,  where  I  passed  three  hours  in  conversation. 
I  met  there  M.  Bravard,8  one  of  the  professors  of  law,  —  a  man  forty  years 

1  Charles  Auguste  Pellat,  —  a  learned  commentator  on  the  Roman  Law,  ar.d  dean  of  the 
Law  Faculty,  1847-1868,  —was  born  at  Grenoble  in  1793. 

2  The  tour  has  been  discontinued  in  Paris. 

8  Pierre  Claude  Jean  Baptiste  Bravard-Veyrieres,  180-4-1861.  His  specialty  was  Com- 
mercial Law.  He  served  in  the  Constituent  Assembly  of  1848,  and  in  the  Legislative 
Assembly  of  the  next  year,  and  rendered  service  in  perfecting  measures  relating  to  this 


256  MEMOIR  OF  CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1838. 

old,  with  black  hair,  very  agreeable  and  good-natured.  We  spoke  of  juris- 
prudence in  France  and  America,  and  of  slavery  in  the  latter  country;  also 
of  several  French  juridical  works.  He  treated  the  work  of  his  brother- 
professor  Duranton  with  great  contempt;  he  said  it  was  good  for  nothing. 
He  told  me  that  there  were  upwards  of  three  thousand  students  of  law  at  Paris ; 
and  that  they  were  from  all  parts  of  the  world,  —  Poland,  Austria,  Prussia, 
Italy,  Spain,  England,  and  even  Greece.  From  this  he  drew,  perhaps  justly, 
some  strong  inferences  in  favor  of  the  supremacy  of  Paris  as  the  literary  and 
juridical  capital  of  the  world.  M.  Bravard  further  observed  that  there  were 
very  few  Frenchmen  who  gave  any  attention  to  foreign  languages. 

Feb.  21.  Heard  M.  Duranton  this  morning;  and  I  am  disposed,  from  his 
lecture  and  appearance,  to  believe  what  I  have  been  told  of  him.  He  is  about 
fifty  years  old,  with  thick,  uncombed  iron-gray  hair,  and  with  a  very  vulgar 
look  and  manner.  His  voice  was  harsh  and  querulous,  and  there  seemed  no 
kind  of  grace  in  any  thing  he  did.  The  subject  of  his  lecture  was  "  Testa- 
ments and  Donations  inter  vivos  under  the  Code  Civil." 

Feb.  22.  This  morning  first  heard,  at  the  Sorbonne,  Lefebure  de  Fourcy  * 
on  the  differential  and  integral  calculus.  He  lectures  in  the  place  of  the 
venerable  Lacroix.  Perhaps  there  was  an  audience  of  twenty-five.  Almost 
all  had  their  note-books,  and  took  down  the  explanations  of  the  professor. 
He  stood  at  his  blackboard,  and  in  a  plain  business  style  went  through  his 
calculations.  The  chalk  and  sponge  were  his  chief  implements.  Of  course 
I  could  not  follow  him  into  the  regions  of  mathematics,  whither  his  involved 
and  complex  figures  carried  him ;  but  I  could  observe  the  manner,  which  was 
entirely  practical,  without  any  show  or  apparent  desire  to  do  any  thing  but 
make  his  hearers  understand  the  calculations.  The  professor  was  a  large-sized 
and  rather  rough-looking  person.  From  him  I  passed  to  the  lecture-room  of 
Pellat  at  the  Ecoie  de  Droit.  The  latter  lectures  upon  the  "Pandects." 
He  had  a  copy  of  the  Corpus  Juris  before  him,  and  was  expounding  the  part 
relating  to  servitudes.  He  read,  in  the  first  place,  a  clause  of  a  few  lines 
in  Latin,  and  then  expounded  its  meaning  with  fulness  and  plainness,  and  in 
an  entirely  conversational  manner.  Almost  all  the  students  had  their  copies 
of  the  Corpus  Juris  resting  on  their  knees,  and  followed  the  professor  as 
he  read,  besides  taking  notes  of  his  exposition.  Pellat  I  have  met  at  the 
Baron  de  Gerando's.  He  is  apparently  about  forty  or  forty-five,  and  is 
modest  in  his  manner.  He  did  not  produce  the  impression  of  remarkable 
talent.  After  Pellat,  I  heard,  at  the  Sorbonne,  a  part  of  the  lecture  of 
Geruzez  2  on  some  French  author,  —  I  could  not  catch  the  name ;  and  after 

branch  of  jurisprudence.  Sumner  wrote  to  Judge  Story,  April  21:  "I  have  spent  a  long 
evening  with  Bravard,  Professor  of  Commercial  Law,  and  successor  of  Pardessus  who  vacated 
his  chair  at  the  time  of  the  Revolution  of  July,  being  a  great  Carlist.  Bravard  says  that 
Boulay-Paty's  work  is  very  much  superior  to  that  of  Pardessus." 

1  Louis  Etienne  LefeHbure  de  Fourcy,  1785-1809.  In  1838  he  succeeded  Lacroix  in  the 
chair  of  Differential  and  Integral  Calculus.    He  is  the  author  of  books  on  geometry. 

2  Nicolas  Eugene  Geruzez,  1799-1865.  He  was,  from  1833  to  1852,  the  substitute  of 
Villemain  in  the  chair  of  Literature.  His  writings  related  mostly  to  the  history  of  literature 
and  eloquence. 


JEt.  27.]  BIOT,  POISSON,  VALETTE.  257 

this,  at  the  ficole  de  Droit,  heard  Ducaurroy,  on  the  "  Institutes."  I  have 
already  spoken  of  his  manner.  He  was  more  animated  than  Pellat ;  he  had 
his  copy  of  the  "  Institutes  "  before  him,  and  read  and  expounded. 

From  the  scene  of  lectures  I  went  to  the  Musee  d'Artillerie,  which  in  one 
respect  corresponds  to  the  Tower  of  London.  Here  are  the  coats  of  arms  of 
many  of  the  kings  and  marshals  of  France,  and  of  many  of  her  renowned 
knights  and  commanders.  .  .  *  I  was  astonished  by  the  weight  of  the  armor, 
many  of  the  suits  weighing  a  hundred  pounds,  and  some  more,  without  in- 
cluding the  sword  or  any  offensive  weapon,  or  even  the  buckler.  No  one  who 
sees  these  remains  of  armor  can  wonder  that  many  a  knight  fainted  under 
the  load.  To  bear  a  knight  armed  in  complete  steel  must  have  required  a 
steed  of  uncommon  stoutness,  especially  when  we  consider  that  he  was  often 
loaded  with  armor  as  heavy  as  that  of  his  master. 

Feb.  24.     Visited  the  manufactory  of  the  Gobelin  tapestry. 

Feb.  25.  To-day  I  ascended  the  monument  in  the  Place  Vendome, 
conceived  and  built  by  Napoleon.  It  is  composed  of  the  cannon  taken  at 
Austerlitz.  There  is  genius  characteristic  of  Napoleon  in  making  the  con- 
quered cannon  into  a  monument  of  victory;  and  the  monument  is  a  most 
beautiful  one.  It  is  an  imitation  of  the  pillar  of  Trajan  at  Rome,  of  which  it 
preserves  the  proportions  on  a  scale  larger  by  a  twelfth.  Its  elevation  is  one 
hundred  and  thirty  feet,  and  from  its  top  there  is  a  fine  view  of  Paris. 

Feb.  26.  This  morning  heard  Biot l  at  the  Sorbonne.  He  is  an  old  gen- 
tleman, sixty-five  perhaps,  full  of  life  and  animation,  and  using  his  chalk 
and  sponge  with  as  much  ardor  as  others  do  the  dance.  He  was  engaged  at 
the  blackboard  making  explanations  and  calculations  with  regard  to  the  sun 
and  moon.  Astronomy,  in  its  mathematical  relations,  seemed  to  be  the  sub- 
ject. In  manner,  in  quickness  of  expression  and  self-abandon,  he  was  not 
unlike  Professor  Farrar.2  Also  heard  Poisson,3  another  mathematician,  who 
was  equally  animated,  and  who  stood  at  his  blackboard  with  his  sponge  and 
chalk.  Next  heard  Valette 4  at  the  Law  School,  —  a  man  of  about  thirty- 
five,  without  having  any  thing  particularly  interesting  about  him.  After 
that,  took  a  long  walk  to  the  immense  Hopital  Salp6triere,  where  there  are  five 
thousand  infirm  and  aged  women,  it  being  a  great  almshouse.  As  I  left  this 
establishment,  I  met  on  the  sidewalk  a  person  of  rather  humble  appearance, 
of  whom  I  asked  some  question,  which  enabled  him  to  detect  me  as  a  for- 
eigner.    It  seems  that  he  understood  a  little  English,  and  had  read  Sterne's 

1  Jean  Baptiste  Biot,  1774-1862.  He  was  one  of  the  most  eminent  men  of  the  century  in 
mathematics,  astronomy,  and  natural  philosophy.  He  became  a  professor  at  the  College  of 
France  as  early  as  1800.  In  1804  he  ascended  in  a  balloon  with  Gay-Lussac,  and,  in  1806, 
accompanied  Arago  to  Spain  on  a  scientific  expedition  with  which  they  were  charged  by 
the  Government.   He  won  fame  in  authorship  as  well  as  by  his  experiments  and  discoveries. 

2  John  Farrar,  1779-1853  ;  Professor  of  Mathematics  and  Natural  Philosophy  in  Harvard 
College  when  Sumner  was  a  student. 

8  Simdon  Denis  Poisson,  1781-1840;  a  scientist  of  the  highest  attainments,  specially  dis- 
tinguished in  mathematical  physics.  He  published  several  treatises,  and  contributed  many 
articles  to  periodicals.    In  1837  he  was  made  a  peer. 

*  Claude  Denis  Auguste  Valette,  Professor  of  Civil  Law,  was  born  in  1805.    In  the 
National  Assembly  he  was  active  in  law  reform. 
VOL.   I.  17 

firr  W  TVTTiT: 


258  MEMOIR  OF  CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1838. 

41  Sentimental  Journey,"  —  a  book,  by  the  way,  which  appears  to  be  read  a 
great  deal  in  France,  —  and  he  wished  to  understand  more.  He  frankly  told 
me  that  he  was  a  mechanic,  who  could  only  find  time  to  study  on  Sundays, 
and  that  he  could  not  afford  to  hire  an  instructor  in  English.  He  accordingly 
proposed  to  render  me  assistance  in  acquiring  French,  if  I  would  return  the 
same  assistance  to  him  with  regard  to  English.  The  whole  rencontre  was  so 
odd  that  I  at  first  feared  some  deception,  and  buttoned  my  surtout  so  as  to 
protect  my  pockets ;  but  I  was  soon  convinced  that  I  did  my  friend  injustice, 
and  I  gave  him  my  card  that  he  might  know  where  to  call  upon  me,  if  he 
saw  fit.  I  talked  with  him  perhaps  three-quarters  of  an  hour.  Is  this  a 
specimen  of  the  new-born  zeal  for  knowledge  in  the  humbler  orders  of  Paris? 
After  this  passed  through  the  Jardin  des  Plantes,  an  immense  establish- 
ment devoted  to  botany,  mineralogy,  zoology,  and  comparative  anatomy. 
My  visit  was  short,  so  that  I  only  saw  the  outside  of  a  small  portion.  This 
place  will  necessarily  require  several  future  visits. 


TO  PROFESSOR  HENRY  W.  LONGFELLOW,  CAMBRIDGE. 

Paris,  Tuesday,  Feb.  27,  1838. 

My  dear  Longfellow,  — .  .  .  I  wish  that  Hillard  and  Felton  could 
enjoy  Europe.  They  need  it,  and  their  minds  are  ripe  for  it.  How  often 
have  I  thought  of  the  thrill  with  which  they  would  survey  the  objects  I  daily 
see.  Tell  Felton  to  come  out  immediately  and  pass  a  good  half-year  at 
Paris;  there  is  enough  to  consume  all  that  time  in  one  round  of  pleasant 
study. 

There  is  no  news  stirring  at  Paris.  You  know  that  the  Warrens  and 
Cabots  are  in  Italy,  to  return  to  Paris  or  London  in  May;  and  the  Farrars 
are  there  also.  Mrs.  Sears  is  here.  The  Ticknors  and  Mr.  Gray  leave 
for  London  in  a  week  or  fortnight.  Walsh  and  his  family  of  daughters  are 
here.  Walsh  himself  has  been  quite  sick,  having  been  confined  to  his  cham- 
ber for  some  time.  Thiers  says  he  is  engaged  upon  a  history  of  Florence  at 
present ;  but  he  is  notoriously  so  immersed  in  politics  that  I  should  doubt  if 
he  had  time  or  inclination  for  writing  a  quiet  book.  Mrs.  Fry  has  been  at 
Paris,  exciting  some  attention  on  the  subject  of  prisons.  The  French,  by  the 
way,  are  just  waking  up  on  that  subject ;  and  also  on  that  of  railroads.  A  good 
letter,  my  dear  Longfellow,  to  the  care  of  the  Barings,  London,  is  the  amend 
to  be  made  for  past  negligence. 

As  ever,  faithfully  yours, 

Chas.  Sumner, 


JOURNAL. 

Feb.  27,  1838.     This  is  Mardi  Gras,  or  Fat  Tuesday,  the  last  day  of  the 
Carnival,  the  day  before  Lent.    In  all  Catholic  countries  this  is  one  of  the  great 


Mt.  27.]  MARDI  GRAS.  259 

fete  days  of  the  year.  Commenced  the  morning  by  a  visit  with  Dr.  Shattuck 
to  one  of  the  distant  hospitals,  full  of  the  most  disgusting  sights  and  the  most 
impressive  moral  lessons,  —  the  Hopital  des  Veneriens.  About  two  o'clock, 
went  over  the  river  to  the  thronged  boulevards ;  in  the  streets  met  the  fat  ox, 
which  was  escorted  by  a  band  of  butchers  on  horseback,  dressed  in  the  most 
fantastic  costumes.  The  boulevards  and  the  Rue  St.  Honore  were  crowded 
literally  for  miles  with  equipages,  with  groups  of  maskers  and  spectators. 
An  ever-present  and  most  numerous  police  kept  this  immense  and  inflamma- 
ble multitude  in  the  most  perfect  order.  For  several  hours  I  walked  or  stood 
on  the  boulevards,  and  during  all  the  time  saw  not  a  single  instance  of  col- 
lision either  between  those  on  foot  or  those  in  carriages.  The  people  on  foot 
moved  on  by  easy  swells  without  jarring  upon  each  other;  the  carriages  were 
all  kept  in  regular  files  or  queues,  and  moved  on  slowly  as  a  funeral  procession. 
There  were  many  maskers  on  horseback ;  others  in  carts  and  carriages.  This 
is  the  Saturnalia  of  France,  and  all  are  privileged  for  this  once  to  play  the 
fool.  I  was  told  that  formerly,  on  this  occasion,  the  young  men,  the  elite 
of  society,  appeared  habited  in  fantastic  dresses ;  this  is  now  left  chiefly,  I 
think,  to  the  lower  orders.  Nevertheless,  there  were  many  to-day  in  costume 
who  had  gentle  blood.  Among  the  fantastic  dresses  was  a  man  habited  like 
a  bear,  with  an  iron  collar  about  his  neck,  and  another  man  leading  him. 
He  sprawled  upon  the  ground,  and  then  reared  himself  very  much  like  the 
hugging  animal. 

Dined  at  Grignon's,  one  of  the  renowned  restaurants  of  Paris ;  then  read 
at  Galignani's  reading-room ;  and  at  midnight  went  to  the  masked  ball  at  the 
house  of  the  French  Opera.  On  this  evening,  or  rather  night,  Paris  is  full 
of  balls;  every  hall,  every  musical  saloon,  and  almost  every  theatre,  with  its 
pit  floored  over,  has  its  ball  and  its  set  of  maskers.  At  the  French  Opera 
the  dancing  commenced  about  one  o'clock,  or  a  little  after;  when  I  left  at 
four  o'clock,  the  spirit  of  the  dancers  and  intrigantes  had  not  abated.  Nearly 
all  the  women  were  in  masks  and  in  fancy  dresses ;  there  were  many  in  black 
dominos.  The  coup  d'aeU  was  beautiful  of  the  brilliantly  dressed  assem- 
blage, under  a  sun-like  stream  of  light  from  numerous  chandeliers,  moving 
in  the  mazy  dance  or  in  the  volatile  waltz,  while  the  powerful  band  was 
pouring  out  a  flood  of  music.  The  words  for  the  figures  were  given  through 
a  speaking-trumpet.  At  four  o'clock  in  the  morning,  with  some  friends,  I  took 
a  carriage,  drove  over  the  boulevards  still  brilliant  with  the  light  of  the  lamps 
and  the  windows  of  the  cafes  and  restaurants,  all  of  which  were  open  to  receive 
and  entertain  the  maskers.  Little  rest  was  there  in  Paris  this  night,  I  should 
think.  We  stopped  about  five  o'clock  at  a  restaurant  on  the  Boulevard  du 
Temple,  where  we  took  something,  whether  breakfast  or  supper  it  would  be 
difficult  to  tell;  and  then  drove  outside  the  barriers  of  Paris  to  what  is  called 
the  Courtille,  —  a  village  the  other  side  of  the  wall,  where,  on  this  night,  all 
the  common  people  assemble  to  enjoy  their  dance  and  their  mask.  We  en- 
tered three  or  four  balls,  where  dancing  was  proceeding  as  vigorously  as  if  the 
streaks  of  morning  had  not  begun  to  appear.  In  some  of  the  corners,  lean- 
ing on  the  tables,  were  some  sleepers;  but  the  main  assemblage  seemed  tc 


260  MEMOIR  OF   CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1838. 

be  unconscious  of  the  peep  of  day.  The  noise  was  considerable,  but  I  saw 
no  quarrel,  and  indeed  no  disturbance  of  any  kind.  There  was,  indeed,  the 
deep  stamp  of  low  life  upon  the  appearance  of  every  thing ;  but  there  was 
nothing  to  justify  the  interference  of  the  police.  Here  the  police  was  also  in 
great  force;  horsemen  were  constantly  riding  up  and  down  the  street,  and 
within  each  bal  there  were  stationed  several  gendarmes.  Shortly  after,  when 
morning  had  finally  penetrated  the  darkness,  and  many  of  the  dancers,  excited 
from  the  labors  of  the  long  night,  had  rushed  into  the  street,  squads  of  troops 
of  the  line  were  posted  in  the  street,  at  intervals  of  a  few  rods,  for  the  space 
of  a  third  or  half  a  mile.  It  was  towards  seven  o'clock  when  we  left;  the 
light  of  day  had  already  filled  the  streets,  and  was  struggling  with  the  lamps 
in  the  dancing  halls;  the  music,  however,  was  still  sounding,  and  there  were 
many  who  danced  on  in  obedience  to  its  time.  As  we  came  away  we  passed 
a  train  of  carriages  and  citadines,  a  mile  long,  of  persons,  some  maskers  and 
some  not,  going  from  the  city  to  see  the  scene  which  we  had  left.  This  is 
usually  the  last  scene  of  the  Saturnalia  of  Mardi  Gras.  Flour  is  liberally 
thrown  from  and  into  the  carriages  without  offence  being  taken.  Glad  was 
I,  after  struggling  for  a  mile  or  thereabout  over  muddy  pavements,  through 
the  dense  crowd  which  attended  these  carriages,  to  find  a  cabriolet,  and  set 
my  face  homeward.  At  half-past  seven  o'clock  of  the  morning  went  to  bed 
so  thoroughly  fatigued,  that  I  did  not  recover  consciousness  till  three  and  a 
half  o'clock  of  the  afternoon.  So  much  for  Mardi  Gras  and  the  last  day  of 
a  Parisian  Carnival.  I  have  forgotten,  in  my  account  of  this  day,  to  mention 
that,  after  dinner  and  before  the  ball,  I  visited  what  is  called  the  Cafe  des 
Aveugles,  —  a  cafe  in  the  Palais  Royal  in  which  there  is  a  small  band  of 
blind  musicians,  and  also  a  little  stage  on  which  there  is  some  acting.  No 
price  is  charged  for  admission,  but  you  are  expected  to  call  for  something  at 
the  bar,  —  a  cup  of  coffee  or  beer ;  and  you  sit  sipping  your  liquid  while  the 
blind  men  play. 

March  1.  This  forenoon  heard  Bravard  at  the  Ecole  de  Droit.  He  is  the 
author  of  one  or  two  books,  and  is  a  professor  much  liked,  I  believe.  He 
appears  to  be  about  forty,  with  eyes  inflamed  by  study.  His  subject  is  the 
Code  de  Commerce.  To-day  he  was  lecturing  on  bankruptcy.  His  audience 
was  quite  large.  Late  in  the  afternoon  went  to  see  my  friend  Shattuck  off 
for  Italy  in  the  malle-poste,  as  it  is  called. 

In  the  evening  went  to  the  Theatre  Francois,  to  hear  the  Horaces  of 
Corneille ;  and  it  was  a  treat.  The  sublime  and  powerful  verse  of  this  great 
author  from  the  studied  enunciation  of  a  French  actor  produced  a  great  and 
constant  effect.  The  audience  were  attentive  all  the  time,  and  not,  as  with 
us,  only  when  a  single  well-graced  actor  is  on  the  stage.  And  the  interest  of 
the  piece  was  in  the  recitation,  not  in  the  action;  there  was  not  even  a  single 
change  of  the  scene  from  the  beginning  to  the  end,  neither  was  there  any 
combat  or  battery  or  disturbance.  And  yet  the  interest  of  the  audience  was 
unflagging  throughout.  This  presents  certainly  a  marked  difference  between 
England  and  America  and  France.  After  the  Horaces  came  a  pleasant  pieoe, 
translated  from  the  German  of  Kotzebue,  called  Les  Deux  Freres. 


^T.  27.]  DINNER  WITH  DE  GERANDO.  261 


CHAPTER    XII. 

PARIS.  — SOCIETY  AND  THE  COURTS.— MARCH  TO  MAT,  1838.  — AGE,  27. 

EARLY  in  March,  Sumner  changed  his  lodgings  from  the 
Latin  quarter  to  the  vicinity  of  the  boulevards,  with  the 
view  of  seeing  more  of  French  society,  and  mingling  in  the  va- 
rious scenes  of  the  metropolis.  His  intercourse  with  Demetz, 
Chevalier,  Cousin,  Sismondi,  and  Pardessus  belongs  to  the  months 
included  in  this  chapter :  two  weeks  earlier  he  had  been  brought 
into  relations  with  De  Ge*rando.  He  still  frequented  the  Sor- 
bonne  and  the  College  of  France;  but  his  attendance  on  the 
courts,  both  in  Paris  and  at  Versailles,  is  also  an  interesting 
feature  of  this  period. 

JOURNAL. 

March  4,  1838.  The  last  three  days  I  have  wearied  myself  in  search  of 
other  lodgings  on  what  is  called  the  fashionable  side  of  the  river  near  the 
boulevards.  For  my  last  few  weeks  in  Paris  I  wish  to  be  where  I  may  see 
more  of  the  world  than  I  can  in  my  present  comfortable,  but  retired,  quar- 
ters. I  have  been  pleasantly  situated  on  this  quiet  side  of  the  river,  hearing 
lectures,  studying  French,  and  familiarizing  myself  with  the  objects  of  inter- 
est here.  It  was  amusing  to  call  at  so  many  houses,  as  I  did,  to  inquire  for 
lodgings,  and  to  practise  my  French  upon  all  the  women  who  kept  them.  It 
was  a  good  exercise,  — better,  perhaps,  than  that  with  a  French  master. 

March  5.  Some  days  ago  received  an  invitation  to  dinner  with  the  Baron 
de  Gerando.  There  were  at  the  table  an  Italian  poet,  a  Spanish  Procureur- 
General,  several  Frenchmen,  including  a  proper  quota  of  Counts,  and 
Colonel  White  and  lady  of  Florida.  I  was  placed  between  these  two,  unfor- 
tunately; and  so  lost  the  opportunity  of  talking  French,  except  across 
Colonel  White  with  Mademoiselle,  the  niece  of  our  host,  who  did  the  honors 
of  the  house  with  great  grace.  There  appeared  to  be  no  head  or  foot  to  the 
table.  It  was  a  parallelogram.  Mademoiselle  sat  at  one  end,  and  the  Baron 
in  the  middle  of  one  of  the  sides.  After  dinner  we  adjourned  to  the  drawing- 
room,  where  we  had  coffee,  and  joined  the  soiree  of  our  host.  Here  I  talked 
with  several  persons.  There  were  Spanish,  Italians,  Germans,  French,  and 
Americans  present,  and  through  the  medium  of  French  I  talked  with  all. 
The  Baron,  our  host,  was  kind  enough  to  give  me  a  ticket  to  the  House  o:? 


262  MEMOIR  OF  CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1838. 

Peers,  to  sit  in  the  box  set  apart,  I  think,  for  the  eldest  sons  of  Peers.  In 
the  salon,  during  the  soiree,  I  could  not  but  observe  that  the  ladies  were  more 
herded  together  than  among  us.  Gentlemen  stood  in  groups  talking  with 
each  other,  and  did  not  seem  to  feel  obliged  to  entertain  the  ladies.  Some 
ladies,  indeed,  asked  me  to  bring  them  a  book  or  pamphlet  from  the  table 
to  read;  and  this  was  in  a  room  almost  crammed  with  people.  I  should 
remark  that  these  were  German  ladies." 

March  6.  To-day  I  left  my  quarters  in  the  Rue  de  l'Odeon,  and  entered 
my  new  apartement  in  the  more  thronged  and  fashionable  quarter.  It  is 
No.  5  Place  des  Italiens,  looking  on  the  square  in  front  of  the  Italian  Opera 
House.  It  is  a  neat,  comfortable  room,  with  a  thick  carpet,  and  chairs  and 
»ofas  of  red  plush.  French  taste  always  selects  something  of  this  kind.  I 
have  not  seen  in  Paris  our  simple  hair-bottom  chairs. 

March  7.  Took  a  cab  and  drove  in  various  directions,  leaving  letters 
of  introduction,  which  I  had  retained  till  the  present  time  because  I  could 
not  speak  French  enough  to  justify  presenting  them:  and  now  I  do  it  with 
the  greatest  distrust;  but,  if  ever  done,  it  is  necessary  to  do  it  quickly, 
as  the  days  which  remain  to  me  in  Paris  are  few.  After  leaving  my  cards 
I  attended  a  sitting  of  the  Peers.  I  entered  the  room  between  soldiers,  and 
found  myself  in  a  small  place,  hardly  larger  than  the  box  of  a  theatre.  I 
have  already  made  mention  of  the  chamber,  which  I  had  seen  before  to-day ; 
though  this  is  the  first  view  I  have  had  of  the  Peers  in  session.  The  ses- 
sion was  pretty  full.  The  dress  of  the  Peers  was  a  blue  coat  with  a  stand- 
ing collar  and  cuffs  trimmed  with  gold.  The  assembly  appeared  highly  re- 
spectable. Most  of  the  Peers  were  considerably  advanced  in  years,  and  the 
snows  of  age  seemed  liberally  scattered  among  them.  The  subject  under 
discussion  was  a  law  regulating  the  number  of  horses  and  the  weight  of 
vehicles  allowed  to  pass  on  the  public  roads.  All  the  members,  who  spoke 
at  any  length,  left  their  places  and  mounted  the  tribune.  If  they  only 
spoke  by  way  of  explanation,  they  did  not  leave  their  seats.  Several  Peers 
who  spoke  had  their  remarks  apparently  written  out,  and  read  them  from 
the  paper  in  their  hands.  The  style  of  debate  was  entirely  creditable;  it 
was  animated  and  courteous.  Indeed,  I  can  hardly  imagine  an  assembly 
appearing  more  respectable,  or  a  debate  conducted  with  more  of  that  spirit 
by  which  truth  and  the  public  good  are  best  advanced.  Yet  I  cannot  help 
recording,  that  I  observed  a  Peer  standing  in  a  most  prominent  place,  on  the 
elevation  of  the  President's  chair,  and  in  conversation  with  the  President, 
with  his  thumbs  stuck  in  the  arm-holes  of  his  waistcoat,  —  which  I  remember 
hearing  years  ago  was  a  Yankee  trick. 

After  the  debate  in  the  Peers,  dined,  and  called  on  Foelix;  spending  sev- 
eral hours  of  the  evening  in  conversation  with  him.  It  seems  that,  like 
many  others,  he  has  been  banished  from  Prussia,  his  native  country.  He 
described  the  state  of  Prussia  to  me  as  very  bad,  its  government  as  false 
(that  was  his  word)  and  detestable. 

March  8.  Spent  a  large  portion  of  the  day  in  preparing  some  law  papers 
for  a  friend.     Among  the  letters  of  introduction  which  I  left  yesterday  was 


^Et.  27.]         PRESCOTT'S  "FERDINAND  AND   ISABELLA."  263 

one  to  M.  FJrard.1  I  received  from  him  this  morning  a  ticket  to  one  of  the 
concerts  at  his  salon,  which  I  attended,  and  heard  most  delicious  melody.  I 
regretted  that  some  of  my  friends  with  ears  better  attuned  to  harmony  wera 
not  in  my  place. 


TO  GEORGE  S.  HILLARD,  BOSTON. 

Paris,  March  8, 1838. 
My  dear  Hillard,  —  A  month  has  passed  since  I  have  written  you;  and 
your  two  letters  have  been  running  through  my  mind  every  day.  How  I  long 
for  news  of  distant  Boston,  and  how  I  picture  all  its  clean  streets,  its  sen- 
sible people,  and  my  dear  friends !  Stands  my  office  where  it  did ;  and  all 
Court  Street,  is  it  still  firm  on  its  foundations?  ...  I  rejoice  to  hear  from 
various  quarters  of  the  reception  of  Prescott's  book  in  our  country.  I  have 
seen  a  copy  and  glanced  through  it.  By  the  way,  the  American  edition  is 
every  whit  as  well  printed  as  the  English,  and  has  some  plates  more  appro- 
priate than  those  prefixed  to  the  English.  The  book  reads  beautifully,  and 
I  am  glad  that  we  have  produced  a  work  with  so  much  of  research,  learn- 
ing, suavity,  and  elegance.  A  few  days  since,  at  dinner  at  the  Baron  de 
Gerando's,  I  met  the  Procureur-General  of  Spain.  I  was  full  of  Prescott's 
book,  and  took  the  occasion  to  endeavor  to  scatter  some  seed  in  Spanish 
ground.  I  described  the  work  and  the  labors  of  Mr.  Prescott  to  the  Span- 
iard, who  appeared  particularly  interested  and  inquired  the  name  of  the 
author.  He  was  quite  astonished  when  I  told  him  that  the  historian  had 
drawn  from  unpublished  manuscripts  and  documents.  Ticknor  has  placed 
a  copy  of  the  book  in  the  hands  of  one  or  two  French  litterateurs,  who  have 
promised  to  review  it  in  some  of  the  French  journals.  Ticknor  leaves 
for  London  in  a  few  days.  I  am  sorry  to  lose  him  and  his  family.  .  .  . 
Write  me  about  the  "  Jurist  "  and  all  other  things.  I  shall  stay  in  Paris  till 
the  middle  of  April.  I  find  ten  times  as  much  here  to  interest  me  as  I  anti- 
cipated. The  lectures,  the  courts,  the  arts, — each  would  consume  a  year, 
to  say  nothing  of  the  language  which  I  am  trying  after  very  hard.  Love 
to  all. 

As  ever,  affectionately  yours, 

Chas.  Sumner. 


TO  DR.  FRANCIS  LIEBER,  COLUMBIA,   S.  C. 

Paris,  March  9,  1838. 

My  dear  Lieber,  —  I  was  longing  to  hear  from  you  when  your  agreeable 

letter  of  Jan.  18  came  upon  me.     Here  at  Paris  I  have  to  satiety  the  richest 

fare  for  mind,  and  body  also ;  that  is,  when  I  choose  to  extend  my  hand  for  it: 

but  that  does  not  make  me  wish  any  the  less  for  a  cup  of  refreshing  drink 

1  Jean  Baptiste  Pierre  Orph^e  Erard,  1794-1855 ;  manufacturer  of  musical  instruments 
and  nephew  of  S4bastien  Erard.  Both,  and  particularly  the  uncle,  were  distinguished  ia 
their  art. 


264  MEMOIR  OF  CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1838. 

from  the  distant  waters  of  my  own  country.  A  word  from  a  friend,  when  it 
has  traversed  so  many  ridges  of  the  sea,  becomes  tenfold  consecrated.  All 
that  you  have  promised  for  me  in  Europe  has  been  more  than  realized.  I 
have  seen  new  lives ;  and  the  life  of  life  seems  to  have  burst  upon  me. 
Cicero  could  hardly  have  walked  with  a  more  bounding  and  yet  placid  joy 
through  the  avenues  of  his  Elysium,  and  conversed  with  Scipio  and  Laelius, 
than  I,  —  a  distant  American,  of  a  country  which  has  no  prescription,  no  his- 
tory, and  no  association,  —  walk  daily  in  the  places  which  now  surround  me. 
.  .  .  There  is  no  individual  about  whom  I  have  more  changed  my  mind  by 
coming  to  Paris  than  Louis  Philippe.  I  had  hitherto  esteemed  him  a  sensi- 
ble, prudent,  but  ordinary  sovereign.  I  find  him  a  great  one,  truly  great; 
mingling  in  business  as  much  as  his  ministers,  and  controlling  them  all.  He 
is  more  than  his  cabinet.  Measures  emanate  from  him.  With  skill  that  is 
wonderful,  he  has  reined  in  the  revolution  of  July.  He  stands  now,  with 
the  Republicans  pressing  on  one  side  and  the  Legitimists  on  the  other,  both 
complaining  of  broken  oaths  and  promises :  the  first,  of  his  promise  to  sur- 
round his  throne  with  republican  institutions;  the  second,  of  his--  ancient 
relations  with  his  cousin,  Charles  X.  His  habits  are  very  industrious.  He 
rises  so  early  as  to  be  in  his  study  at  eight  o'clock;  breakfasts  at  ten  with 
his  family;  from  twelve  to  four  attends  to  public  business,  receives,  &c. ; 
from  four  to  six  takes  his  exercise ;  at  six  dines  with  his  family,  with  whom 
he  passes  the  evening  till  ten  o'clock;  vvhen  he  retires  to  his  study,  and  writes 
till  two  o'clock,  his  hour  of  retiring.  It  is  supposed  that  he  is  engaged  upon 
some  book,  —  memoirs,  perhaps.  .  .  .  Tocqueville  has  been  absent  from  the 
city  till  last  week.     I  shall  call  on  him  to-day. 

As  ever,  faithfully  yours, 

Chas.  Sumner. 


JOURNAL. 


March  9',  1838.  Assisted  about  law  papers;  called  on  M.  iSrard,  who 
invited  me  to  dine  with  him  on  Sunday  next.  Visited  Foelix,  and  exam- 
ined his  library;  with  most  of  the  books  on  French  law  I  am  already  more 
or  less  acquainted.  Next  tried  to  find  Tocqueville,  but  he  has  left  the  city; 
returned  to  my  room,  and  was  in  deshabille,  preparing  to  go  out  to  dine  with  a 
French  lawyer,  when  my  door  opened  and  a  gentleman  in  black,  of  about  the 
middle  size,  rather  thin,  with  sharp  black  eyes,  black  hair  brushed  smoothly, 
entered  my  room.  He  announced  himself  as  M.  Cousin.1  I  offered  him  a 
chair,  and  he  was  good  enough  to  sit  with  me  for  more  than  an  hour.     He 

l  Victor  Cousin,  1792-1867.  In  1815  he  became  a  professor  at  the  Sorbonne.  His  writ- 
ings on  morals  and  metaphysics  have  been  studied  in  all  civilized  countries.  His  transla- 
tion of  Plato  was  completed  in  thirteen  volumes;  a  collected  edition  of  his  works,  in 
twenty-two  volumes,  was  published  in  1847.  Under  Louis  Philippe  he  was  for  a  while 
Minister  of  Public  Instruction,  and  engaged  in  the  debates  of  the  Chamber  of  Peers.  Hif 
connection  with  public  affairs  ended  in  1848. 


JEt.  27.]  INTERVIEW  WITH  COUSIN.  265 

inquired  after  Mr.  Henry,1  Mr.  Ripley,2  Mr.  Brooks,8  Mr.  Bancroft,  but  par- 
ticularly Mr.  Brownson; 4  of  the  latter  he  spoke  as  a  man  of  a  great  deal  of 
talent,  and  indeed  as  a  most  remarkable  person.  He  had  received  the  bro- 
chure of  Mr.  BrowDSon,  lately  published.  Mr.  Ripley  he  described  as  a  man 
of  talent,  and  great  activity  of  mind;  Mr.  Brooks  as  a  man  of  enthusiasm; 
and  Mr.  Henry  as  a  person  he  hoped  would  soon  be  established  in  another 
professorship.  His  interest  in  Mr.  Brownson  appears  to-be  unfeignedly  great. 
I  mentioned  Dr.  Channing's  name,  and  he  simply  said,  in  his  measured  man- 
ner, "Cest  un  homme  Men  respectable."  He  spoke  at  considerable  length  of 
his  interest  in  the  subject  of  education,  and  I  cannot  but  confess  that  he  was 
eloquent  beyond  most  men  whom  I  have  met.  He  avowed  his  entire  devotion 
to  this  cause,  and  his  faith  in  its  paramount  importance;  that  other  causes 
admitted,  perhaps,  of  two  sides;  that  this  did  not;  that  it  was  one  in  support 
of  which  all  persons  could  unite.  It  might  be  otherwise,  he  said,  with  slavery. 
He  did  not  wish  office  from  Government,  he  said;  but  simply  to  devote  himself 
to  the  great  cause  of  education.  In  avowing  this  dedication  of  his  life  he 
used  language  as  elevated  as  the  sentiment  itself.  He  appeared  very  well 
informed  with  regard  to  the  United  States,  and  even  with  regard  to  the  pres- 
ent proceedings  in  Massachusetts  on  the  subject.  I  described  to  him  Mann's 
labors  and  character;  he  seemed  grateful  to  hear  of  them,  and  asked  particu- 
larly about  Mr.  Mann.  He  spoke  of  his  own  recent  work  on  Holland,  which 
he  seemed  very  much  to  desire  might  reach  the  United  States ;  he  added  that 
there  was  a  vast  similarity  between  the  institutions  of  the  United  States  and 
those  of  Holland.  His  manner  of  conversation  was  ardent,  almost  burning, 
with  a  great  deal  of  emphasis  and  a  loud  voice;  his  sentences,  nevertheless, 
were  quite  measured.  He  does  not  speak  English.  He  did  not  appear 
amiable;  and,  though  he  spent  upwards  of  an  hour  with  me,  his  countenance 
and  manner  did  not  once  assume  an  appearance  of  liveliness  and  gayety;  it 
was  sombreness  that  prevailed  throughout.  I  must  add  that,  though  he 
stands  high  at  present,  being  a  peer  of  France  and  a  man  of  great  talents, 
he  does  not  appear  to  be  a  favorite  with  any  party ;  it  is  surmised  that  he  is 
selfish  and  loves  money.     He  told  me  that  his  translation  of  Plato  had  pro- 

1  Caleb  S.  Henry;  a  clergyman  born  in  Rutland,  Mass.,  in  1804.  In  1834  he  published 
"Cousin's  Psychology,"  being  a  translation  of  Cousin's  lectures  on  Locke's  "  Essay  on  the 
Human  Understanding."  He  was  one  of  the  founders  of  the  "New  York  Review,"  and 
from  1839  to  1852  Professor  of  History  and  Philosophy  in  the  University  of  New  York. 

2  George  Ripley  was  bora  in  Greenfield,  Mass.,  Oct.  3,  1802.  He  published,  1838-1842, 
"  Edited  Specimens  of  Foreign  Standard  Literature,"  which  contained  his  translations  of 
Cousin,  Jouffroy,  and  B.  Constant.  He  was  one  of  the  "  Brook-Farm  "  community  in 
Roxbury,  Mass.,  of  which  Hawthorne's  "Blithedale  Romance  "  was  written.  In  1849  he 
became,  as  he  still  continues,  the  literary  editor  of  the  "New  York  Tribune."  He  edited, 
with  Charles  A.  Dana  as  associate,  the  "American  Cyclopaedia." 

8  Rev.  Charles  Brooks,  1795-1872 ;  a  Unitarian  clergyman  in  Hingham,  Mass.,  and 
afterwards  Professor  of  Natural  History  in  the  University  of  New  York. 

4  Orestes  A.  Brownson,  1803-1876.  He  was  by  turns  the  partisan  of  various  theologies; 
finally  entering,  in  1844,  the  Catholic  communion.  He  was  the  editor  and  almost  the 
sole  writer  of  the  "  Boston  Quarterly  Review,"  established  in  1838.  He  entered  on  meta- 
physical and  philosophical  discussions  at  an  early  period  of  his  career,  and  embraced  witlr 
little  modification  the  views  of  Cousin. 


266  MEMOIR  OF   CHARLES   SUMNER.  j  1838 

ceeded  to  the  eleventh  volume  which  was  already  published,  and  that  he  was 
now  engaged  upon  the  twelfth.  He  concluded  his  visit  by  inviting  me  to 
visit  him  at  his  "  cabin  "  at  the  Sor bonne. 

After  M.  Cousin  left  I  hurried  to  my  dinner,  which  was  to  be  with  M. 
Ledru,  a  French  lawyer,  who  appeared  to  be  rather  young.  He  was,  never- 
theless, the  counsel  of  Alibaud,1  the  person  who  was  executed  for  attempting 
to  kill  the  king;  and,  as  he  told  me  himself,  the  most  intimate  friend  of 
Armand  Carrel.  The  latter  died  in  his  arms,  he  said.  He  added,  that 
Louis  Philippe  was  accustomed  to  say  that  the  two  persons  in  his  kingdom 
whom  he  most  detested  were  Ledru  and  Carrel.2  As  for  law  he  appears 
a  charlatan ;  but  he  is  a  character.  I  talked  with  Ledru  about  Cousin ;  he 
did  not  like  him,  and  regarded  him  as  a  man  who  had  deserted  republican 
principles,  which  he  professed  ardently  before  the  Revolution  of  July. 

March  10.  Saw  the  neat,  modern,  and  beautiful  church  of  Notre  Dame 
de  Lorette;  entered  the  immense  Library  of  the  King,  seeing  however  but 
one  apartment,  as  the  whole  library  was  not  open  to-day ;  -then  visited  my 
new  acquaintance  Ledru,  talked  French,  examined  his  library,  and  gave  him 
advice  on  some  matters  of  American  law;  dined  with  the  Ticknors;  and  then 
went  to  the  Theatre  des  Varietes  where  I  heard  a  very  amusing  and  neat 
vaudeville,  Le  Pere  de  la  Debutante.  I  found  myself  able  to  follow  the 
thread  of  the  whole  piece,  though  there  were  many  particular  passages  that 
I  lost. 

March  11.  Saw  the  review  of  troops  of  the  line  and  national  guards  in 
front  of  the  Tuileries,  and  then  went  to  church  in  the  chapel  of  Colonel 
Thorn.8  The  colonel  lives  so  en  prince  that  he  has  his  private  chapel  and 
chaplain ;  and  all  the  world  are  at  liberty  to  enjoy  them.  The  room  is  not 
larger  than  a  good-sized  salon  ;  it  is  furnished  very  neatly,  with  a  handsome 
carpet  and  chairs,  and  a  pretty  desk  and  pulpit.  The  American  Episcopal 
service  was  used ;  the  prayer  ran  for  the  "President  of  the  United  States, 
the  King  of  the  French,  and  the  Queen  of  England,"  —  in  that  order.  After- 
wards went  to  the  Chamber  of  Deputies,  which  not  being  in  session,  I  was 
allowed  to  see  the  hall;  it  was  beautiful,  indeed:  I  must  say  more  about  it, 
when  I  attend  a  debate.  Walked  to  the  Arc  de  Triomphe  and  went  to  the 
top,  from  which  I  had  a  beautiful  view  of  Paris.     This  is  a  wonderful  work, 

1  Louis  Alibaud  attempted  the  assassination  of  Louis  Philippe  on  June  25,  1836,  at  the 
Pont  Royal,  and  was  guillotined  the  next  month.  His  counsel  was  M.  Charles  Ledru. 
Louis  Blanc  has  given  an  account  of  the  attempt,  and  of  the  trial  and  execution.  "  His- 
tory of  the  Ten  Years,"  London,  1845 ;  Vol.  II.  pp.  415-424. 

2  Nicolas  Armand  Carrel,  a  French  journalist,  who  was  born  in  1800.  In  1830,  he 
founded  with  Thiers  the  "National,"  of  which  he  became,  after  Thiers  entered  the  minis- 
try, the  sole  editor.  He  was  killed  by  Emile  de  Girardin  in  a  duel,  in  July,  1836.  "His- 
tory of  the  Ten  Years,"  Vol.  II.,  pp.  424-430.  See  article,  "Armand  Carrel,"  by  J.  S. 
Mill,  in  "London  and  Westminister  Review,"  Oct.,  1837,  reprinted  in  Mr.  Mill's  "Disserta- 
tions and  Discussions." 

8  Herman  Thorn,  a  purser  in  the  United  States  Navy,  who  became  rich  by  his  marriage 
with  Miss  Jauncey,  of  New  York.  In  Paris,  he  took  a  lease  of  the  Hotel  Monaco,  the  prop- 
erty of  Madame  Adelaide,  sister  of  Louis  Philippe,  once  occupied  by  Talleyrand,  and 
extending  from  the  Rue  St.  Dominique  to  the  Rue  de  Varennes;  where  in  style  of  living 
and  entertainments  he  vied  with  royalty.     He  died  in  New  York. 


^Et.  27.]  THE  CHAMBER  OF  DEPUTIES.  267 

intended  to  commemorate  the  victories  of  Napoleon,  and  indeed  worthy  of 
them.  It  is  the  largest  triumphal  arch  ever  built.  The  train  of  carriages  in 
the  Champs  filysees  to-day  was  immense.  Dined  by  invitation  with  M. 
Erard;  and  at  dinner  sat  between  two  French  ladies.  Two  or  three  eminent 
musical  persons  were  present.  The  dinner  was  neat  and  pleasant.  I  must 
record  M.  Fjrard's  ignorance  with  regard  to  America.  He  asked  me,  with 
the  greatest  simplicity,  if  our  noblest  and  most  respectable  families  were  not 
the  descendants  of  Montezuma !  And  yet  he  is  a  man  of  considerable  posi- 
tion; and  at  the  head  of  his  business  in  Paris,  perhaps  in  the  world! 

March  12.  To-day  commenced  a  struggle  in  the  Chamber  of  Deputies, 
in  order  to  unseat  the  ministry.  The  English  ministry  have  just  passed 
through  their  trial;  and  now  a  similar  one  awaits  the  French.  The  contest 
took  place  on  the  question  of  secret  funds,  which  the  ministry  demanded  as 
usual  in  their  budget,  and  at  the  same  time  gave  out  that  they  wished  to 
regard  the  vote  on  this  subject  as  a  vote  of  confidence.  A  large  number  of 
spectators  were  drawn  together  by  this  annunciation.  I  had  a  ticket  to  one 
of  the  reserved  tribunes,  and  yet  was  obliged  to  repair  to  it  full  two  hours 
before  the  house  opened,  which  was  at  two  o'clock.  The  house  is  beautiful, 
larger  than  that  of  the  Peers ;  but  not  so  large  as  ours  at  Washington.  The 
President's  seat  is  in  the  axis  of  the  radii  of  the  semi-circumference  of 
which  the  chamber  is  composed;  and  directly  in  front  of  it  is  the  tribune, 
from  which  all  speeches,  other  than  mere  explanations,  are  made.  The 
banc  des  ministres  is  the  middle  of  the  front  row  of  seats.  The  members 
all  had  desks  before  them.  At  the  foot  of  the  tribune  sat  a  whole  row  of 
huissiers,  —  corresponding  perhaps  to  our  serjeant-at-arms,  —  with  swords,  and 
also  with  chains  about  their  necks.  They  appeared  to  have  little  or  nothing 
to  do,  except  to  receive  a  letter  or  billet  occasionally  from  a  member ;  a  ser- 
vice which  might  have  been  done  by  one  boy.  Over  the  President's  chair 
is  a  large  painting  representing  the  king,  Louis  Philippe,  receiving  the 
charter  in  1830,  in  which  are  portraits  of  most  of  the  leading  men  of  that 
period,  —  Lafayette,  Constant,1  Guizot,2  Laffitte,  &c.  The  picture  is  histor- 
ically interesting,  but  as  a  work  of  art  there  is  little  in  it  to  excite  admira- 
tion. Each  of  the  ministers  had  a  red  portfolio,  which  gives  occasion  to  the 
newspapers  to  speak  of  the  contest  for  the  "portfolios  "  of  office,  &c.  At 
two  o'clock  I  heard  a  sound  of  drums,  and  immediately  M.  Dupin,8  the 
President,  entered  the  chamber,  having  been   attended  from  his  house, 

1  Henri  Benjamin  Constant  (Constant  de  Rebecque),  1767-1830;  a  distinguished  political 
writer  and  editor. 

2  1787-1874. 

8  Andre-  Marie  Jean  Jacques  Dupin,  1783-1865;  the  eminent  lawyer  and  statesman. 
He  defended  Marshal  Ney  in  1815,  and  was  much  engaged  in  political  trials  while  he  re- 
mained at  the  bar.  His  career  in  the  Chamber  of  Deputies  was  long  and  distinguished. 
He  was  elected  its  President  eight  times.  As  an  orator  he  was  remarkable  for  striking 
expressions.  "  At  times  his  bov-mots  have  created  a  majority  or  upset  a  cabinet."  He  was 
appointed  Procureur-G<m£ral  in  the  Court  of  Cassation,  after  the  Revolution  of  1830,  of 
which  he  was  one  of  the  leading  promoters ;  and,  resigning  at  one  time,  was  reappointed  in 
1857.  He  wrote  many  books  upon  jurisprudence  and  politics,  but  gave  too  little  time  to  thei7 
preparation. 


268  MEMOIR  OF  CHARLES  SUMNER.  [1838. 

which  adjoins  the  chamber,  by  a  municipal  guard.  I  was  infinitely  disap- 
pointed in  his  appearance.  It  was  ordinary,  and  almost  vulgar ;  and  yet  he 
is  the  famous  M.  Dupin,  the  editor  of  Pothier,  the  writer  of  sundry  matters 
of  law,  and  the  sayer  of  several  smart  and  memorable  things.  His  head 
was  partially  bald,  and  the  hair  left  was  brushed  smooth  and  sleek.  Per- 
haps, on  seeing  this  famous  man  nearer,  I  might  alter  the  above  impres- 
sions; but  they  are  those  of  a  first  sight.  I  noticed  in  the  Chamber  of 
Peers  what  I  thought  was  a  Yankee  trick;  in  the  Chamber  of  Deputies 
I  noticed  others.  For  a  good  part  of  the  debate,  a  huissier,  whose  place 
was  very  conspicuous,  being  directly  on  a  level  with  the  President,  sat 
with  his  chair  on  its  hind-legs.  Another,  —  M.  Salvandy  1  the  Minister 
of  Public  Instruction,  —  sat  for  some  time,  cutting  with  his  pen-knife  the 
mahogany  desk  before  him.  There  were  a  good  many  speakers,  one  of 
whom  was  quite  prominent,  being  able,  eloquent,  and  humorous.  This 
was  the  Count  Jaubert.2  He  made  a  severe  attack  on  the  ministry,  which 
produced  a  sensible  effect.  He  was  very  witty  and  caustic,  and  was 
constantly  interrupted  by  exclamations  of  "  tres  Men"  or  by  murmurs  of 
dissent,  or  more  frequently  by  laughs  at  his  sarcasm.  I  observed  all  the  dis- 
tinguished members  of  the  House,  and  scanned  their  features.  Guizot  is 
justly  eminent.  His  literary  labors  have  been  immense,  and  his  political 
elevation  is  now  as  distinguished  as  his  literary.  He  is  no  longer  in  the 
ministry,  but  he  is  intensely  regarded  by  all  parties  for  the  expansion  of  his 
views  and  their  deep  philosophical  reflection.  In  his  personal  carriage,  as  I 
saw  him  at  a  distance,  he  reminded  me  of  Mr.  Theron  Metcalf  ,3  of  Dedham. 
His  forehead  is  high;  but  he  is  not  bald,  though  his  hair  is  thin.  His  face 
is  mild  and  gentle  in  its  expression.  M.  Thiers,4  the  celebrated  author  of 
the  "  History  of  the  French  Revolution,"  is  a  most  distinguished  member  of 
the  Chamber.  I  did  not  hear  him  speak ;  but  I  narrowly  regarded  him.  He 
is  but  little  above  the  middle  size,  with  sleek  black  hair,  and  with  a  bright 
countenance  which  seemed  to  content  itself  with  short  and  momentary  looks. 
Laflitte6  sat  on  the  extreme  gauche;  that  is,  at  the  extreme  of  the  liberal 
section.  He  was  the  great  leader  of  the  Revolution  of  July.  His  appear- 
ance is  prepossessing.  One  would  hardly  expect  to  find  in  the  gentlemanly 
person  with  silver  locks,  who  sat  so  quietly  during  an  exciting  debate,  the 
leader  of  a  revolution.     Odilon  Barrot 6  sat  by  his  side ;  and  his  whole  frame 

1  1795-1856. 

2  Count  Hippolyte  Francois  Jaubert  was  born  in  1798.  He  was  in  the  Chamber  of  Dep- 
uties from  1831  to  1844.  In  1840  he  received  the  portfolio  of  Public  Works.  He  was  one 
of  the  four  members  of  the  National  Assembly,  who,  in  the  vote  of  July  10,  1872,  opposed 
the  treaty  of  evacuation  with  Germany.  He  is  noted  as  a  botanist.  He  died  in  1875  or 
1876,  while  a  member  of  the  Chamber  of  Deputies. 

8  Ante,  p.  176. 

4  1797-1877.  In  1873,  Sumner  was  the  guest  at  dinner  of  Thiers,  then  President  of 
the  Republic. 

5  Jacques  Laffitte,  1767-1844. 

6  Camille  Hyacinthe  Odilon  Barrot,  1791-1873.  He  shared  in  the  Revolution  of  1830. 
In  the  Chamber  of  Deputies  he  opposed  the  administration  of  Guizot;  just  before  the  Revo- 
lution of  1848  he  was  appointed  Prime  Minister.  He  was  Minister  of  Justice  in  1848-49, 
under  Louis  Napoleon,  then  President  of  the  Republic.     He  opposed  with  vigor  the  couf 


&T.  27.]  THE  DUC  DE  BROGLIE.  269 

and  features  seemed  to  be  in  constant  motion.  His  appearance  was  neat, 
attractive,  and  gentlemanly;  but  I  saw  him  from  such  a  distance  that  I  could 
not  discern  his  particular  features.  The  great  astronomer  Arago,1  who  has 
mingled  very  much  in  politics,  and  who  is  an  extreme  liberal,  sat  by  his 
side.  On  the  opposite  side  of  the  house  was  Lamartine,  —  a  tall,  thin  man, 
looking  like  a  poet,  of  whom  I  had  but  an  imperfect  view;  also  Berryer,2 
the  eloquent  Carlist,  with  his  blue  coat  buttoned  high  up  in  his  neck,  and  his 
burly  face  full  of  blood  and  passion.  The  members  of  the  Chamber  sat  with 
their  hats  off,  and  generally  preserved  a  respectful  deportment;  but  they 
interrupted  the  speaker  at  pleasure,  with  notes  of  admiration  or  dissent,  to 
as  great  an  extent,  I  should  think,  as  in  the  English  parliament.  The 
Chamber  did  not  rise  till  six  o'clock. 

March  13.  To-day,  through  the  kindness  of  M.  Pierron,  a  deputy  ot  some 
distinction  on  the  Liberal  side,  I  had  a  seat  in  the  reserved  tribune.  M. 
Montalivet,3  the  Minister  for  the  Interior,  —  a  man  celebrated  in  the  Revolu- 
tion of  July,  —  commenced  from  the  tribune  a  reply  to  the  attacks  which 
had  been  made  upon  the  ministry.  A  scene  occurred  which  will  probably 
be  quite  memorable.  The  speaker  was  interrupted  in  his  speech  several 
times  by  members  of  the  opposition;  and  finally,  all  at  once,  became  ill, 
nearly  fainted  and  fell  in  the  tribune,  from  which  he  was  led  by  several  of 
the  huissiers,  who  were  near  at  hand.  All  the  ministry  and  many  of  the 
deputies  followed  him  into  the  antechamber,  and  the  House  was  thrown  into 
a  great  deal  of  confusion.  It  was  very  soon  adjourned.  After  this  went  to 
view  the  Palais  de  l'lElysee  Bourbon,  —  the  palace  which  Murat  with  his  wife, 
the  sister  of  Bonaparte,  occupied  and  adorned,  and  in  which  Bonaparte  spent 
the  last  days  of  his  reign.  I  was  shown  the  chamber  in  which  he  slept,  and 
in  which  he  made  his  last  abdication.  This  morning  I  called,  with  Mr. 
Ticknor,  on  the  Due  de  Broglie,4  the  late  prime-minister  of  France.  He 
is  emphatically  a  gentleman,  —  his  manners  smooth  and  even,  without  any 
thing  particularly  striking,  and  yet  calculated  to  inspire  respect.      He  is, 

d'etat,  and  then  retired  from  public  life.  In  1872  he  was  appointed  by  Thiers  "Vice-presi- 
dent of  the  Council  of  State. 

1  Dominique  Francois  Arago,  1786-1853.  The  astronomer  was  through  his  long  career 
a  faithful  partisan  of  liberty.  He  refused,  after  Louis  Napoleon's  coup  d'etat,  to  take  the 
oath  of  allegiance.  He  is  buried  at  Pere  La  Chaise,  and  his  monument  is  conspicuous  to  the 
visitor  not  far  from  the  principal  entrance. 

2  Pierre  Antoine  Berryer,  1790-1868.  From  his  participation,  with  his  father,  in  the  de- 
fence of  Marshal  Ney,  in  1815,  until  his  death,  he  was  associated  with  the  most  celebrated 
causes,  civil  and  political.  He  was  a  steadfast  adherent  of  the  Legitimist  cause  and  its  fore- 
most champion  in  the  Chamber  of  Deputies.  Sumner  met  M.  Berryer  in  social  life  on  his 
visit  to  Paris  in  1857. 

8  The  Comte  de  Montalivet,  son  of  a  French  statesman,  was  born  at  Valence,  April  25 
1801,  and  is  now  living.  He  bore  a  part  in  the  Revolution  of  1830,  and  was  devoted  to  the 
Orleans  family.  He  was,  for  some  years,  in  the  cabinet  of  Louis  Philippe,  as  Minister  of 
Public  Instruction  or  of  the  Interior. 

4  1785-1870.  He  descended  from  an  ancient  family  of  Piedmontese  origin,  and  married 
the  only  daughter  of  Madame  de  Stael.  His  honorable  efforts  for  the  abolition  of  slavery 
deserve  commemoration.  In  politics  he  affiliated  with  Guizot.  He  was  for  a  time,  under 
Louis  Philippe,  Minister  of  Public  Instruction  or  of  Foreign  Affairs.  His  son  Albert,  borp 
in  1821,  has  had  a  conspicuous  place  in  recent  French  history. 


270  MEMOIR  OF  CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1838. 

perhaps,  fifty  years  old.  He  was  kind  enough  to  promise  to  give  me 
some  introductions  and  facilities  for  seeing  the  distinguished  lawyers  of 
Paris. 

March  14.  This  morning  the  Ticknors  left  Paris  for  London ;  and  sorry 
indeed  was  I  to  part  with  them,  since  their  house  has  been  as  a  home  to  me 
in  Paris ;  and  I  have  had  their  constant  counsel  and  advice,  and  the  results 
of  their  long  travel  and  experience.  It  was  with  a  heavy  heart  that  I  saw 
their  carriage  roll  away.  I  felt  solitary  and  sad,  and  endeavored  to  walk  off 
my  gloom  by  a  long  stroll;  so  I  visited  the  churches  of  St.  Eustache  and  St. 
Germain  l'Auxerrois,  the  Marche  des  Innocents,  the  house  where  Moliere  was 
born,  the  Mazarine  Library  in  the  building  of  the  Institute,  and  finally  the 
exhibition  of  paintings  of  modern  French  artists  in  the  Louvre.  For  two 
months  of  each  year  the  old  masters,  crowned  by  the  laurels  of  many  genera- 
tions, are  veiled  from  view,  and  the  vast  gallery  of  the  Louvre  is  devoted  to  the 
exhibition  of  paintings  by  living  artists.  Here  was  an  immense  assemblage, 
but  how  immeasurably  below  the  old  masters !  Acres  of  canvas  and  paint 
literally  spread  themselves  before  the  eye.  In  all  this  quantity  I  saw  little 
that  fixed  my  attention ;  and  the  verdict  of  others  better  instructed  in  the 
subject  of  paintings  than  myself  has  confirmed  my  untutored  judgment. 
Spent  a  long  evening  with  Foelix,  talking  French  and  law. 

March  16  (Friday).  Took  the  diligence  this  morning  at  eight  o'clock  for 
Versailles,  there  to  attend  a  criminal  trial  and  to  view  the  palace.  An  ac- 
quaintance, which  I  have  made  among  the  advocates,  invited  me  to  be  present 
at  a  trial  in  which  he  was  to  appear  as  counsel,1  and  which  promised  to  be 
very  peculiar  and  important.  I  was  unwilling  to  let  this  occasion  of  com- 
mencing my  initiation  in  French  criminal  procedure  pass  by.  The  court 
opened  at  ten  o'clock.  It  was  a  room  of  quite  moderate  size,  in  a  very 
ancient  building  which,  at  the  same  time,  contained  the  prison.  It  was  the 
Court  of  Assize,  having  three  judges.  The  presiding  judge,  who  sat  in  the 
middle,  conducted  the  whole  trial,  neither  of  the  other  two  once  opening 
his  mouth.  He  was  dressed  in  robes  of  black  and  red,  the  side  judges  in 
robes  of  black;  and  all  of  them  had  high  caps,  which  they  wore  or  not,  ac- 
cording to  the  inclination  of  the  moment,  during  the  trial.  The  Procureur- 
General  for  the  district  conducted  the  case  on  the  part  of  the  Government. 
The  court  entered  with  the  jury  in  their  train,  and  also  with  the  prisoner 
between  several  of  the  police.  The  twelve  persons  of  which  the  jury  con- 
sisted had  been  drawn  by  the  prisoner  immediately  before  entering.  A 
large  number  of  the  police,  and  also  of  the  troops  of  the  line,  were  in 
attendance.  Three  or  four  or  even  more  of  the  police  sat  by  the  side 
of  the  prisoner.  The  arrangement  of  the  court  was  entirely  different 
from  ours.2 

1  M.  Ledru,  ante,  p.  266.  Sumner,  in  his  letter  to  Hillard  of  March  21,  speaks  of  this 
advocate  as  "  the  greatest  friend  of  perhaps  the  greatest  man  France  has  had  for  the  last 
ten  years,  unhappily  now  dead.    I  mean  Carrel." 

2  The  Journal  contains  other  diagrams  than  that  of  the  court-room.  The  advice  of  Dr 
Lieber  will  be  remembered  in  this  connection.    Ante,  p.  198. 


JEt.  27.] 


CRIMINAL  TRIAL  AT  VERSAILLES. 


271 


E 


L 

L 

M                                                [» 

4,  the  principal  judge,  with  a  and  &,  the  side  judges,  the  seat  slightly 
raised. 

B,  seat  and  box  of  the  greffier,  or  clerk  of  the  court. 

C,  the  little  box  and  seat  of  the  Procureur-  General. 
D  D,  the  seats  of  the  jury. 

E,  seat  of  the  chief  huissier,  who  had  the  charge  of  keeping  order  in  court. 

F,  seat  of  the  prisoner,  directly  in  face  of  the  jury  and  considerably  ele- 
vated, say  three  or  four  feet. 

G,  seat  of  prisoner's  counsel,  directly  under  the  prisoner,  as  a  clerk  is 
under  the  judge  in  one  of  our  courts. 

H,  stove  in  the  centre  of  the  court-house. 

/,  place  where  the  witnesses  stood  during  their  testimony. 

K,  some  reserved  seats. 

X,  other  reserved  seats,  where  the  witnesses  sat  after  examination. 

M,  place  open  to  the  public,  and  full  of  old  women  and  vagabonds,  who 
stood  up. 

N,  door  for  the  public. 

0,  private  or  privileged  door. 

P,  door  of  the  judges'  room,  and  by  which  the  court  entered. 

Q,  little  door,  through  which  the  witnesses  were  brought  in  one  by  one; 
also  by  which  the  prisoner  was  brought  in,  and  through  which  the  jury  retired 
to  deliberate :  it  communicates  with  the  prison. 


272  MEMOIR  OF  CHARLES  SUMNER.  [1838. 

There  was  nothing  attractive  or  striking  in  the  construction  of  the  room ; 
it  was,  indeed,  ordinary.  The  seats  were  of  common  wood.  Over  the  judge's 
seat  was  a  large  picture  of  Christ  on  the  Cross. 

The  prisoner  was  a  young  man  of  eighteen,  who  was  charged  with  killing 
his  mistress.  It  seems  that  the  two,  according  to  a  French  fashion,  tired  of 
life,  agreed  mutually  to  kill  each  other.  The  pistol  of  the  prisoner  took 
effect,  and  the  girl  was  killed;  but  hers  did  not  take  effect.  The  prisoner 
then  tried  to  kill  himself,  but  was  finally  arrested  before  he  had  consummated 
his  project.  I  shall  preserve  the  printed  account  of  the  trial.  Here  I  shall 
only  mention  a  few  things  that  I  observed,  and  which  will  not  appear  in  the 
published  account. 

The  first  step  was  the  reading  of  the  act  of  accusation  or  indictment  by  the 
clerk.  The  names  of  all  the  witnesses  were  then  called.  They  were  very 
numerous,  and  were  all  sent  into  an  adjoining  room.  Among  them  was  the 
mother  of  the  prisoner  and  also  the  mother  of  the  deceased.  The  prisoner 
himself  was  first  examined  very  minutely  by  the  judge,  and  detailed  all  the 
important  circumstances  of  his  life,  his  education,  and  of  his  final  commis- 
sion of  the  offence  with  which  he  was  charged.  He  gave  all  the  particulars 
fully.  This  examination  was  conducted  entirely  by  the  senior  judge.  The 
prisoner  cried  while  telling  his  story,  and  did  not  speak  loud  enough  to  be 
distinctly  heard  by  the  jury.  He  was  then  removed  from  the  witnesses'  stand. 
The  judge  next  read  the  proch  verbal  of  the  examination  of  the  prisoner  on 
his  first  apprehension,  and  then  the  testimony  given  by  physicians  at  the 
first  examination.  Witnesses  were  then  introduced  one  by  one;  first  the 
mother  of  the  accused:  she  was  sworn.  The  oath  was  very  much  like  ours; 
so  much  so,  that  I  think  it  must  have  been  borrowed  from  England.  The 
witness  holds  up  his  hand  while  the  judge  repeats  the  oath  (the  judge  not 
rising) ;  and,  at  the  close  of  the  oath,  kisses  his  hand.  The  mother  sat 
while  giving  her  testimony,  and  was  in  tears  all  the  while.  She  frequently 
fortified  what  she  said  by  adding  that  it  was  given  upon  her  "  parole  oVlion- 
neur" — which  sounded  a  little  curious  when  she  was  already  under  oath. 
The  second  witness  was  a  man.  He  stood  up  and  was  examined,  as  were 
all  after  him,  by  the  judge.  The  few  questions  put  by  counsel  on  either 
side  were  through  the  mouth  of  the  judge;  and  there  were  not  half-a-dozen 
during  the  whole  trial,  and  to,  perhaps,  thirty  witnesses.  The  first  set  of 
witnesses  proved  the  previous  character  of  the  accused ;  the  second  set  the 
same  of  the  deceased.  Next  came  the  doctors,  and  then  the  persons  who 
found  the  body  and  the  prisoner.  Members  of  the  jury  asked  questions 
when  they  pleased;  and  all,  or  nearly  all,  had  a  little  piece  of  paper  on  which 
to  make  notes.  The  examination  of  witnesses  was  completed  the  first  day, 
and  the  court  adjourned  at  about  five  o'clock  in  the  afternoon.  The  jury 
separated  without  any  injunction  not  to  converse  on  the  subject  of  the  trial; 
but  on  the  adjournment  mingled  among  the  crowd. 

March  17.  At  ten  o'clock  the  court  again  convened.  One  of  the  morn- 
ing papers  contained  a  full  report  of  the  doings  of  yesterday.  My  friend,  the 
counsel  of  the  prisoner,  anticipating  it  last  night,  enjoined  upon  his  servant 


<Et.27.j         THE  PALACE  AT  VERSAILLES.  273 

to  bring  from  Paris  a  dozen  copies  of  the  paper  containing  the  report  to  dis- 
tribute among  the  jury.  I  told  him  he  would  commit  a  crime,  according  to 
English  and  American  law,  —  "  Embracery;  "  but  he  laughed  at  the  idea. 
This  forenoon  the  Procureur-General  first  spoke,  then  the  counsel  for  the 
prisoner ;  then  again  the  Procureur,  and  again  the  counsel  for  the  prisoner. 
I  understood  that  they  had  a  right  to  speak  as  many  times  as  they  chose,  the 
counsel  for  the  prisoner  always  having  the  last  word.  In  the  arguments  there 
was  nothing  such  as  I  have  been  accustomed  to ;  every  thing  was  different. 
The  defence  was  theatrical,  brilliant,  French.  The  counsel  grasped  the  hand 
of  his  client,  and  worked  the  whole  audience  into  a  high  pitch  of  excitement. 
At  the  close  of  his  argument,  he  called  upon  his  client  to  promise,  in  the  face 
of  the  court  and  of  God,  that,  if  he  were  restored  to  liberty  by  the  verdict  of 
the  jury,  he  would  hasten  to  precipitate  himself  upon  the  tomb  of  the  unfor- 
tunate girl  he  had  destroyed  and  pray  for  forgiveness ;  and  the  prisoner,  by 
way  of  response,  stretched  his  hand  to  his  counsel,  who  seized  it  with  a 
strong  grasp,  saying  at  once,  "J'ai  finV  Women  screamed  and  fainted, 
strong  men  yielded,  and  tears  flowed  down  the  cheeks  of  the  jury  and  even 
the  grim  countenances  of  the  half-dozen  police,  or  gendarmes,  who  sat  by 
the  side  of  the  prisoner,  elevated  and  within  the  observation  of  all  the 
audience.  The  arguments  concluded,  the  judge,  sitting  (and  the  jury  sit- 
ting), read  a  very  succinct  statement  of  the  case,  and  the  law  which  bore 
upon  it.  This  occupied  perhaps  five  or  ten  minutes.  The  jury  then  retired, 
and  within  less  than  ten  minutes  returned.  The  prisoner,  in  the  mean  time, 
had  been  conducted  to  a  room  out  of  the  court-room.  The  jury  rendered 
their  verdict,  "Not  guilty;"  the  prisoner  was  then  brought  in,  and  the 
judge  communicated  the  decision  to  him,  dismissing  him  with  an  impressive 
admonition.  The  greatest  excitement  prevailed  in  the  court-room  when  the 
verdict  was  announced.  Women,  and  men  too,  cried  for  joy.  So  much  for 
a  French  criminal  trial !  * 

March  18  (Sunday).  Stayed  in  Versailles  another  day,  to  view  the  won- 
derful palace,  now  opened  as  an  historical  museum,  and  the  former  scene  of 
the  Arabian  Nights'  magnificence  of  Louis  Quatorze.  I  had  previously,  on 
the  days  of  the  trial,  stolen  some  peeps  at  the  garden;  but  I  gave  to-day 
entirely  to  this  object.  All  that  my  imagination  pictured  fell  infinitely  short 
of  what  I  found  to  be  the  reality.2 

March  19.     Was  at  the  soiree  of  De  Ge*rando  this  evening. 

March  20.  Again  went  to  the  College  Royal  de  France  and  heard  Ler- 
minier.  His  audience  was  quite  crowded,  and  he  was  excessively  animated. 
He  discussed  the  relations  of  France  with  the  Church,  under  Philip  Augus- 
tus ;  the  character  of  Pope  Innocent  III. ;  and  the  crusade  against  the  Albi- 
genses.  Americans  are  accused  of  national  vanity;  but  certainly  they  must 
yield  the  palm  on  this  account  to  the  French.  This  whole  lecture  was  calcu- 
lated to  pamper  the  national  vanity  of  Frenchmen,  and  to  fortify  them  in  a 
belief,  which  needs  no  additional  support  among  them,  that  they  are  and 

1  The  printed  report  of  the  trial  noted  Sumner's  .attendance. 

2  He  described  at  length  the  visit  to  the  palace  in  a  letter  to  Hillard,  of  March  21,  1838. 

vol.  i.  18 


27-i  MEMOIR   OF  CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1838. 

always  have  been  the  first  nation  of  the  earth.  Lerminier's  manner  is  very 
brilliant  and  energetic.  It  is  not  pure,  and  he  abounds  in  words;  but  I  must 
confess  that  his  lecture  this  morning  presented  an  instructive  view,  which 
riveted  the  attention  of  a  large  audience. 

Passed  through  the  Place  de  la  Bastille;  saw  Napoleon's  huge  elephant; 
the  foundation  for  the  monument  to  the  victims  of  July ;  the  Boulevard  du 
Temple;  and  the  house,  N/o.  50,  from  which  Fieschi's  infernal  machine  was 
directed  against  the  king.     Spent  a.  quiet  evening  chez  moi. 


TO  GEORGE  S.  HILLARD. 

Paris,  March  21,  1838. 
My  dear  George,  — I  have  received  all  your  letters,  and,  did  you  know 
the  thrill  with  which  I  opened  them,  you  would  not  write  grudgingly.  Give 
me  a  glass  of  water  from  the  New  England  springs,  I  say,  amidst  the  plenty 
of  all  kinds  which  surrounds  me.  You  do  not  know  what  it  is  to  be  in  a 
foreign  land,  where  the  sounds  which  salute  you  are  of  a  strange  tongue, 
and  the  voices  of  friends  are  not  heard.  With  what  zealous  attention  do  I 
devour  every  word !  And  when  I  have  read  the  letter  several  times  I  strive 
again  to  alchemize  from  its  exhausted  page  some  new  meaning,  —  to  drain 
from  it  another  drop  of  its  precious  wine.1  .  .  .  On  my  return  to  the  city 
from  Versailles,  I  found  an  invitation  to  a  soiree  for  the  same  evening.  I 
went  and  enjoyed  a  most  delicious  private  concert,  where  there  was  the  choicest 
music  of  the  voice,  the  piano,  the  harp,  and  the  violin,  by  the  most  brilliant 
performers.  Adelaide  Kemble,2  the  sister  of  Fanny,  was  there.  She  has 
appeared  in  public  but  once;  and  that  was  some  time  ago,  when  her  friends 
deemed  it  advisable  to  withdraw  her.  She  sang,  another  playing  the  accom- 
paniment ;  and  then  she  took  her  place  at  the  piano,  and  played  and  sang  at  the 
same  time.  Of  course  it  was  Italian  music.  You  know  that  I  am  no  judge 
of  music,  but  still  I  have  a  heart  and  pulses  which  throb  under  manifesta- 
tions of  human  feeling.  Her  music  affected  me  deeply,  and  I  cannot 
describe  to  you  how  much  impressed  was  the  beautiful  and  crowded  circle 
by  which  she  was  surrounded,  who  interrupted  her  at  every  pause  by  a 
gush  of  "  bravas. ' '  After  her  two  songs  she  soon  retired.  In  her  singing  she 
had  great  force,  but  I  thought  lacked  variety  and  softness.  She  was  a  sing- 
ing Fanny  Kemble.  There  was  no  American  but  myself  at  the  soire'e,  and 
Miss  Kemble  will  not  appear  in  public  for  some  time  yet.  She  goes  forth- 
with to  Italy  to  continue  her  training.  .  .  Consider  that  my  time  is  all  em- 
ployed from  seven  o'clock  in  the  morning  till  twelve  or  one  at  night,  and 
then  give  me  a  generous  return  for  this  letter.  I  shall  not  be  in  London  till 
May.     Tell  Cushing  to  write  me  there.     How  often  do  I  think  of  all  of  you, 

1  In  the  omitted  part  of  this  letter  is  a  description  of  the  trial  at  Versailles,  already  given 
in  the  Journal. 

2  She  was  born  in  London  in  1820,  and  retired  from  the  stage  in  1843,  on  her  marriage 
to  Mr.  Sartoris. 


JEt.  27.J  A  CHARITY  SERMON.  275 

and  of  the  quiet  circles  where  I  was  received  in  Boston  and  Cambridge  1 
My  heart  is  with  you. 

As  ever,  affectionately, 

Chas.  Sumner. 


JOURNAL. 


March  21,  1838.  Took  a  long  ramble  through  parts  of  the  Parisian 
world  which  I  had  not  yet  visited ;  saw  the  pigeon-shooting  in  the  gardens 
at  Tivoli,  chiefly  by  young  counts,  viscounts,  and  the  like;  went  through 
the  Cemetery  Montmartre,  situated  beyond  the  walls  of  the  city,  and  near 
the  barriere  of  the  same  name,  and  in  the  evening  dined  with  M.  Ledru,  the 
advocate,  at  Vefour's.  The  scene  at  the  cemetery  was  thoroughly  French. 
Long  before  I  approached  it  I  saw  persons  on  the  sidewalk  with  wreaths  to 
sell,  and  I  was  pressed  several  times  to  purchase  them.  Mourners,  when  they 
resort  to  the  cemetery,  throw  one  of  these  wreaths,  purchased  at  the  gate,  on 
the  tomb  of  the  lost  one.  Here  was  a  large  graveyard,  not  so  large  as  Mt. 
Auburn  or  one  hundredth  part  as  beautiful  from  Nature,  filled  to  crowding 
with  monuments.  There  were  literally  thousands,  being  close  to  each  other; 
and  almost  all  had  the  common  French  offering  of  wreaths  hung  over  them. 

March  22.  To-day  is  another  of  the  ridiculous  show-days  of  France.  It 
is  mid-Lent,  and  the  rigors  of  this  holy  time  are  relaxed  for  this  day,  and  the 
follies  of  Carnival  renewed.  Maskers  were  in  the  streets,  and  this  evening, 
or  rather  night,  all  the  balls  are  again  open  to  the  masks.  The  balls  com- 
mence at  midnight.  By  accident  strayed  into  the  famous  church  St.  Ger- 
main l'Auxerrois,  and  saw  the  Archbishop  of  Paris,  —  perhaps  of  France, 
for  I  do  not  know  his  exact  style,  —  and  heard  a  sermon  from  one  of  the 
most  eloquent  preachers  of  France.  It  was  a  sermon  for  charity  to  the  poor, 
expressed  with  a  good  deal  of  eloquence.  The  preacher,  I  thought,  part  of 
the  time  sat  in  his  pulpit.  It  was  a  strong  appeal  to  the  rich.  Alms  were 
received  afterwards  at  the  great  door  of  the  church ;  all  the  other  doors  were 
closed,  and  everybody  passed  through  this  avenue  of  charity,  on  either  side 
of  which  were  two  young  matrons,  marchionesses  or  countesses,  who  held  the 
beautiful  bags  which  received  the  alms,  and  recognized  the  charity  with  a 
smile.  The  archbishop  was  clad  in  simple  but  rich  vestments ;  and  on  one 
of  his  hands,  which  were  gloved  with  purple  silk,  glittered  a  most  brilliant 
ring.  Should  he  not  have  thrown  this  ring  into  the  alms  for  the  poor;  since 
the  preacher  in  his  sermon  characterized  him  as  le  pontife  et  le  pere  des  pauvres  f 
As  he  walked  through  the  audience,  with  his  hand  at  his  face,  by  a  sort  of 
motion  from  his  face  he  scattered  blessings  among  the  people,  who  most 
devoutly  crossed  themselves  as  he  passed  along.  His  rich  vestments  touched 
me,  so  near  was  I;  but  the  jewel  on  his  hand  could  be  seen  at  a  great  dis- 
tance, gleaming  most  resplendently. 

In  the  evening,  dined,  by  invitation  received  some  days  ago,  with  M.  Filas- 
sier.  The  company  consisted  of  twelve,  and  my  seat  was  on  the  right  of 
Madame.     The  gentlemen  were  of  good  social  position,  but  I  do  .not  know 


276  MEMOIR  OF  CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1838. 

their  names;  because,  in  the  first  place,  they  do  not  introduce  persons  in 
society  here  as  a  general  rule,  and  when  they  do,  it  is  very  difficult  to  catch  a 
French  name  so  as  to  remember  it.  After  twelve  o'clock  went  to  one  of  the 
balls  at  Musard's.     It  was  literally  crammed  with  dancers  and  spectators. 

March  23.  This  morning  visited  the  Bibliotheque  du  Roi;  saw  its  im- 
mense collections  of  books,  medals,  plates,  and  maps,  and  its  great  museum 
of  manuscripts.  Here  are  eighty  thousand  manuscripts.  In  the  evening 
went  to  the  Theatre  of  the  Palais  Royal,  where  I  saw  Mademoiselle  Dejazet x 
(a  woman  famous  for  libertinism,  as  well  as  spirit  as  an  actress)  in  one  of 
the  popular  pieces  of  the  day,  called  a  folie,  —  La  Mattresse  de  Langues. 
Her  manner  was  very  easy,  graceful,  and  lively. 

March  24.  Visited  the  Conservatoire  des  Arts  et  Metiers.  .  .  .  Attended 
Lerminier's  lecture  at  the  College  Royal;  his  subject  was  the  contest  of 
Frederick  II.  of  Germany  with  the  power  of  the  Pope,  with  a  sketch  of  the 
character  of  the  former.  As  usual  he  was  animated,  and  drew  the  atten- 
tion of  a  large  audience.  In  the  evening  heard  Le  Sage's  best  comedy,  — 
Turcaret, —  at  the  Theatre  Francais. 

March  26.  In  the  course  of  the  day  I  called  upon  Mrs.  Florida  White  ; 
while  I  was  there,  among  a  good  deal  of  company,  I  met  the  Countess  Guic- 
cioli.2  She  was  rather  short,  inclined  to  embonpoint,  with  a  light  complexion, 
and  a  touch  of  red  in  the  cheek.  I  did  not  notice  her  particularly,  because 
I  did  not  catch  the  name  when  she  was  announced,  and  I  left  very  soon  after 
she  entered  the  room. 

March  27.  Walked  much,  and  went  to  the  top  of  Notre  Dame  ;  the  day 
was  beautiful,  and  I  saw  all  Paris  beneath  my  feet.  .  .  .  Heard  Lerminier 
at  the  College  of  France;  as  usual,  brilliant,  rambling,  excited,  with  a  full 
and  attentive  audience  of  young  men.  His  subject  was  St.  Louis,  —  his 
crusades,  and  his  character.  After  the  lecture  again  walked;  penetrated 
through  all  the  small  streets  between  the  Place  de  la  Bastille  and  the  Rue 
St.  Martin.  .  .  .  Dined  at  Meurice's  table  d'hote;  this  is  the  great  English 
hotel ,  and  English  is  the  prevalent  language  at  table.  The  dinner  is  well 
served.  I  sat,  of  course,  between  two  Englishmen.  Tired  of  silence,  by 
and  by  I  presumed  to  break  it  with  my  next  neighbor,  who  seemed  not 
sorry  ;  we  talked  very  happily  together,  and  he  opened  his  heart  in  the 
fulness  of  sympathy,  as  to  a  compatriot.  I  deemed  it  my  duty,  how- 
ever, to  state  that  I  was  not  an  Englishman, — he  started  with  astonish- 
ment ;  I  added  that  I  was  of  the  United  States.  All  at  once  he  became 
cold  ;  his  countenance  was  averted,  and  the  little  conversation  which  we 
afterwards  had  was  measured,  tame,  and  insipid.  Cooper  would  build  an 
argument  on  this  incident  to  show  the  deep-seated  antipathy  on  the  part  of 
Englishmen  to  our  country!     In  the  evening  attended  for  a  short  time  the 

1  Pauline  Virginie  Dejazet,  1798-1873.  She  went  upon  the  stage  when  only  five  years 
old,  and  left  it  in  1868. 

2  The  Countess  Guiccioli,  nee  Teresa  Gamba,  1801-1873.  Her  liaison  with  Lord  Byron, 
whom  she  met,  in  1819,  at  Venice  and  Ravenna,  Pisa  and  Genoa,  gave  her  great  notoriety. 
In  1851  she  married  a  Frenchman,  the  Marquis  de  Boissy,  who  died  in  1866.  Late  in  life 
she  published  "Recollections  "  of  the  poet. 


JEt.  27.]  THE  GEOGRAPHICAL  SOCIETY.  277 

Theatre  des  Jeunes  Sieves,  in  the  Passage  Choiseul.  I  believe  all  or  the 
greater  part  of  the  actors  were  boys  and  girls.  I  was  so  fatigued  after  my 
walks  that  I  did  not  stay  long. 

March  28.  Again  walked;  penetrated  beyond  the  Barriere  du  Combat1 
to  the  Boyauderie,  so  called,  where  is  deposited  all  the  filth  of  Paris. 

Dined  with  Foelix,  where  I  met  M.  West,  an  avocat,  and  his  collabora- 
teur  in  his  Review.  I  spent  a  long  evening,  during  which  I  learned  much  of 
the  studies  and  duties  of  avocats,  and  of  the  practice  of  courts.  Indeed,  the 
object  of  our  meeting  to-day  was  to  converse  on  these  subjects. 

March  29.  Saw  the  beautiful  exhibition  of  Sevres  porcelain.  In  the 
evening  went  to  the  Italian  Opera.  The  Opera  was  1  Puritani;  the  music 
was  certainly  delicious,  but  I  am  not  competent  to  admire  it  according  to  its 
merits. 

March  30.  This  evening  attended  a  meeting  of  the  Societe  de  Geographie, 
at  which  M.  Guizot  did  not  preside  as  expected.  The  meeting  was  in  one  of 
the  halls  of  the  Hotel  de  Ville.  Some  old  gentlemen  sat  round  a  desk,  and 
read  reports  and  papers,  while  spectators  or  humbler  members  of  the  society 
sat  on  benches.  The  meeting  was  dull  enough,  and  I  left  about  ten  o'clock, 
while  a  gentleman  was  in  the  midst  of  reading  a  fragment  of  his  travels  in 
Bolivia. 


TO  JUDGE  STORY,  CAMBRIDGE. 

Paris,  March  30,  1838. 
My  dear  Judge,  — ...  I  have  made  the  French  language  a  study  with 
all  the  assistance  I  could  derive  from  French  masters.  With  these  I  have 
been  extravagant,  having  had  two  almost  all  the  time  I  have  been  here. 
What  is  worth  doing  is  worth  well  doing,  and  I  wish  to  obtain  such  a 
knowledge  of  French  as  to  be  able  to  preserve  it  all  my  life,  and  also  to  use 
it  as  a  medium  of  intercourse  in  Germany.  I  have  now  heard  almost  all 
the  lectures  of  the  metropolis;  perhaps  I  have  attended  one  hundred  and 
fifty, — no  small  labor.  Of  the  manner  and  character  of  the  professors  I 
must  write  you  at  large.  At  present  I  am  attending  the  courts.  Indeed,  a 
French  court  is  a  laughable  place.  To  me  it  is  a  theatre,  and  all  the  judges, 
advocates,  and  parties  "  merely  players."  In  those  particulars  in  which  they 
have  borrowed  from  the  English  law,  they  have  got  hold  of  about  half  of  the 
English  principle  and  forgotten  the  rest.  Thus,  they  have  juries.  These 
they  imported  from  England ;  but  with  them  none  of  the  regulations  by  which 
the  purity  of  our  verdicts  is  secured.  The  jury,  with  a  capital  case  in  their 
hands  disperse  and  mingle  among  the  citizens.  [Here  follows  a  descrip- 
tion of  the  criminal  trial  at  Versailles,  already  given  in  the  Journal.]  In 
answer  to  the  interrogatories  of  the  judge,  the  prisoner  gave  a  detailed 
account  of  the  whole  affair,  of  his  connection  with  the  girl,  and  their  mutual 
agreement  to  kill  each  other,  and  of  the  unfortunate  result.    One  would  think 

1  Situated  at  the  end  of  the  Rue  Grange  aux  Belles. 


278  MEMOIR  OF  CHARLES  SUMNER.  [1838. 

that  the  case  might  stop  here ;  but  no !  the  same  facts  were  extracted,  by 
means  of  question  and  answer,  from  the  mouths  of  more  than  thirty  wit- 
nesses. There  was  nothing  like  cross-examination ;  and  I  have  reason  to  be- 
lieve that  this  test  of  truth  is  entirely  unknown  to  the  French  procedure.  All 
the  questions  were  put  by  the  presiding  judge,  who,  however,  took  no  notes 
of  the  answers:  and  the  questions  were  general,  such  as,  names  and  times 
being  altered,  would  apply  to  all  cases.  All  persons  are  admitted  as  wit- 
nesses. Parents  and  near  relatives  of  parties  are  not  admitted  if  objection 
is  made ;  neither  is  a  person  infamous,  —  namely,  one  who  has  been  con- 
demned for  robbery,  &c.  These  are  the  only  exceptions  I  know  of  at  pres- 
ent. Papers  of  all  kinds  are  admitted.  You  will  see  from  these  few  words 
that  the  duties  of  the  judge  and  advocate  are  infinitely  abridged ;  the  lawyer 
giving  his  chief  attention  to  his  pleading  (plaidoyer),  and  the  presiding 
judge  putting  a  series  of  questions  which  have  been  digested  beforehand. 
Neither  judge  nor  lawyer  is  obliged  "to  watch  the  currents  of  the  heady 
fight,"  as  with  us,  where  almost  every  word  of  testimony  makes  its  way 
against  the  serried  objections  of  opposing  counsel. 

As  ever  affectionately  yours, 

Chas.  Sumner. 


JOURNAL. 
March  31,  1838.  A  day  or  two  since  I  received  an  invitation  to  break- 
fast with  M.  Demetz,1  a  Conseiller  de  la  Cour  Royale,  — namely,  a  magistrate 
or  judge.  At  a  quarter  before  eleven  o'clock  I  found  myself  with  him.  He 
is  a  man  of  about  forty,  who  has  visited  the  United  States  and  written  a  book 
about  the  country;  and  yet  he  does  not  venture  to  speak  English,  or  did  not 
to-day.  His  wife  received  me  cordially.  The  salon  was  —  perhaps  I  may  say, 
in  Yankee  phrase  —  splendidly  furnished,  and  yet  there  was  no  carpet ;  the 
walls  were  all  covered  with  silk,  and  the  chairs  also.    We  sat  down  to  break- 

1  Fr<*denc  Auguste  Demetz,  1796-1873.  In  1836  he  visited  the  United  States,  accom- 
panied by  an  architect,  for  the  purpose  of  inspecting  our  prisons ;  and  became  a  convert  to 
the  cellular  system  of  Pennsylvania.  In  1840  he  renounced  the  profession  of  the  law,  in 
order  to  found  and  administer  the  famous  Reform  School  for  Boys  at  Mettray,  upon  the 
family  system,  known  as  "The  Agricultural  and  Penitentiary  Colony;"  and  he  remained 
steadfast  in  this  work  until  his  death.  Lord  Brougham,  in  Parliament,  pronounced  Mettray 
in  itself  sufficient  for  the  glory  of  France.  His  institution  has  been  the  model  of  many 
others,  not  only  in  Europe  but  in  this  country.  In  Sept.,  1873,  the  writer  met  M.  Demetz  at 
his  lodgings  in  Paris.  Though  somewhat  bent  with  age,  his  intelligence  and  good  sense  were 
as  vigorous  as  ever.  He  died  a  few  weeks  later,  Nov.  2.  1873.  Sumner  visited  Mettray 
and  had  an  interview  with  M.  Demetz,  on  May  26,  1857.  He  was  much  touched  by  a  re- 
mark of  the  philanthropist,  made  in  the  conversation,  that  he  had  renounced  his  position  as 
judge,  thinking  that  there  was  something  more  for  him  to  do  than  to  continue  rendering 
judgments  of  courts  {faisant  des  arrets) ;  that  he  had  the  happiness  of  being  a  Christian, 
and  that  it  was  of  much  more  importance  to  him  what  the  good  God  should  think  of  him 
than  what  men  thought.  Funeral  services  were  celebrated  in  Paris  in  the  Eglise  de  la  Trin- 
ity, at  Dourdan,  the  place  of  his  burial,  and  at  Mettray,  where  he  directed  his  heart  to  be 
deposited.  On  May  3,  1871,  the  busts  of  Demetz  and  his  colaborer,  Courteilles,  were  inau- 
gurated at  Mettray,  with  an  address  from  M.  Drouyn  de  Lhuys. 


^t.  27.1  JOHN  WILKES  —  "0.  P.  Q."  279 

fast  at  about  half -past  eleven  o'clock.  I  was  asked  to  give  my  arm  to  Madame 
in  passing  from  the  salon  to  the  salle  a  manger,  and  was  placed  at  her  right. 
The  company  consisted  of  six,  besides  Monsieur  and  Madame,  my  hosts. 
The  breakfast  was  truly  sumptuous :  seldom,  if  ever,  have  I  seen  such  a  re- 
past for  dinner.  There  were  certainly  half  a  dozen  wines,  and  a  long  retinue 
of  the  richest  and  subtlest  dishes.1  Among  the  guests  was  Michel  Cheva- 
lier,2 one  of  the  editors  of  the  Journal  des  De'bats,  and  author  of  a  recent  work 
on  the  United  States.  He  is  a  man  of  about  thirty-five,  modest,  not  hand- 
some, but  intelligent,  with  a  prominent  but  expressive  eye.  I  conversed  with 
him  considerably,  partly  in  French  and  partly  in  English.  From  what  I  hear 
said  of  him,  from  what  I  have  read  of  his  writings,  and  from  having  seen 
him,  I  think  he  will  take  an  eminent  stand  in  France.3  There  was  a  magistrate 
present,  with  whom  I  conversed;  he  seemed  proud  of  the  thorough  police  of 
Paris,  and  of  the  almost  dictatorial  power  of  the  Prefect  of  Police,  as  he  said, 
over  the  intentions  as  well  as  acts  of  persons.  I  left  at  about  half-past  one 
o'clock,  having  passed  a  very  agreeable  time  and  met  some  very  agreeable 
people,  and  also  finding  that  I  had  at  last  got  French  enough  to  carry  on 
something  of  a  conversation.  After  this,  called  on  Mr.  John  Wilks,  — 
the  famous  "  O.  P.  Q."  of  the  London  press,  —  a  large,  gross  man,  who 
notwithstanding  told  me  that  he  took  but  one  meal  a  day,  and  that  his 
dinner.  The  conversation  accidentally  turned  on  Chevalier,  whom  I  had  just 
left.  I  observed  that  there  was  a  savage  cut-up  of  Chevalier  in  a  January 
number  of  "Frazer."  "Yes,"  said  Mr.  Wilks,  "I  wrote  it."  Singular 
accident  that  I  should  pass  from  one  man  to  the  very  person  who  had  flayed 
him,  as  it  were,  through  the  public  press! 

April  1.  This  evening  went  to  the  Theatre  Porte  St.  Martin  to  see  Made- 
moiselle Georges,4  famous  for  her  liaison  with  the  emperor,  as  everybody  here 
calls  Napoleon.  She  is  now  quite  advanced,  and  is  very  large  and  heavy, 
almost  gross ;  still  she  must  have  been  attractive  in  days  gone  by.  Her  play- 
ing was  good,  and  drew  a  full  house ;  but  I  think  it  was  her  history  and 
ancient  fame  which  kept  the  large  audience  attentive. 

1  M.  Demetz,  speaking  of  the  culinary  talent  of  the  French,  said  at  the  dinner:  " Notre 
cuisine  est  la  cuisine  du  monde." 

2  M.  Chevalier  was  born  Jan.  13,  1806.  After  the  Revolution  of  1830,  he  became  editor 
of  the  Globe.  In  1833-35,  under  an  appointment  from  Thiers,  then  Minister,  he  visited  the 
United  States  for  the  purpose  of  investigating  our  railroad  system,  and  later  published  his 
"Letters  on  North  America,"  which  had  already  appeared  in  the  Journal  des  Debats.  In 
1840,  he  succeeded  Rossi  in  the  chair  of  Political  Economy  at  the  College  of  France.  He  is 
among  the  most  eminent  economists  of  his  age,  and  the  head  of  the  free-trade  school  in  his 
country.  Sumner  received  many  attentions  from  M.  Chevalier,  on  his  visit  to  Paris  in 
1857;  and  a  friendly  correspondence  from  that  time  was  continued  between  them. 

8  Sumner,  in  his  letter  to  Hillard  of  April  10,  speaks  of  M.  Chevalier  as  "  an  active- 
minded,  talented  man  of  thirty-five,  who  is  culminating  fast,  and  I  think  will  run  the 
career  of  Thiers,  Guizot,  and  Carrel." 

4  1787-1867.  She  began  to  perform  in  Paris,  in  1802  in  "  Clytemnestra."  She  was  at- 
tached, at  one  time,  to  the  Imperial  Theatre  at  St.  Petersburg.  She  played  at  Dresden  and 
Erfurt  before  Napoleon  and  Alexander.  From  1821  to  1817  she  performed  chiefly  in  Paris 
at  the  Odeon  and  Porte  St.  Martin  theatres.  She  retired  in  1849,  but  reappeared  in  1855. 
Among  her  personal  admirers  were  princes  and  the  Emperor  Napoleon. 


280 


MEMOIR  OF  CHARLES  SUMNER. 


[1838. 


April  2.  Commenced  in  earnest  following  the  courts.  M.  Demetz  called 
for  me  at  nine  o'clock  in  the  morning,  and  conducted  me  to  that  venerable 
pile  where  the  courts  convene, — the  ancient  residence  of  the  kings, — the 
Palais  de  Justice.  I  went  into  the  different  court-rooms,  but  finally  rested 
for  the  day  in  the  Cour  d' Assises,  where  M.  Demetz  himself  was  to  preside 
as  one  of  the  judges.  There  were  three  judges  on  the  bench,  habited  in  black 
robes,  with  high  black  caps  with  a  gold  band.  The  arrangement  of  the  court 
was  not  materially  different  from  that  I  had  already  seen  at  Versailles.  The 
room  was  old  and  venerable,  and  the  ceiling  was  painted  by  one  of  the  cele- 
brated artists  of  France. 


i 


ABC 

E 

D/» 

/   I   1                           VjE 

H 

H 

K 

G 

F 

I 

iy      m 

0 

ABC,  the  three  judges  at  a  circular  table,  raised  considerably  above  the 
level  of  the  court. 

D,  Procurenr-General  at  one  end  of  the  same  table. 

E,  greffier  at  the  opposite  end. 

F,  accused  and  gendarme. 

G,  counsel  of  accused. 
H  H,  the  jury. 

I  /,  huissiers. 

K,  place  where  the  witnesses  stood  when  giving  testimony. 

L,  stove. 


^T.  27.J  C0UR  ^'ASSISES.  281 

Jf ,  little  door  by  which  to  enter  the  bar. 

iV,  door  for  witnesses  and  lawyers. 

O,  door  for  the  public. 

P,  door  to  the  judges'  room. 

I  had  a  good  seat,  and  heard  several  trials  with  the  greatest  pleasure.  As 
among  us,  the  defences  chiefly  fell  to  the  hands  of  very  young  members  of 
the  bar;  persons  who  are,  as  it  were,  in  their  apprentissage.  I  was  much 
interested  in  seeing  the  application  of  the  French  criminal  code.  Its  pro- 
visions were  followed  completely,  and  I  sat  with  it  in  my  hand  while  the 
trials  proceeded.  The  arguments  of  the  Procureur-General  and  of  the  coun- 
sel in  defence  were  shorter  than  with  us,  and  the  charge  of  the  judge  much 
shorter  and  less  elaborate. 

In  the  evening  went  to  the  grand  Opera  Francais,  and  saw  the  splendid 
ballet-pantomime  of  Le  Diable  Boiteux,  and  the  dancing  of  Fanny  Elssler.1 
I  did  not  think  before  that  scenery  and  spectacle  could  be  carried  so  far  as 
they  were  in  this  piece. 

April  3.  Again  at  the  Palais  de  Justice  and  in  the  Cour  d' Assises;  feel 
more  and  more  interested  in  the  administration  of  justice  here. 

April  4.  At  the  Cour  d' Assises.  Have  now  heard  many  cases;  am  much 
pleased  with  the  French  penal  code  in  many  particulars,  —  its  definitions  of 
crimes  are  much  more  natural  and  intelligible  to  common  persons  than  ours; 
do  not  see  that  the  habit  of  examining  the  accused  works  badly ;  like  the 
system  of  the  jury's  expressing  an  opinion  on  different  circumstances  which 
attend  the  crime,  but  am  not  so  much  pleased  with  the  requisition  of  a  ma- 
jority of  seven.  Cross-examination  seems  unknown.  I  have  heard  a  very 
few  questions  put  to  witnesses  by  counsel,  but  of  all  the  witnesses  that  I  have 
seen  not  one  has  been  insulted  or  treated  with  harshness.  Always,  as  the 
judges  enter  or  retire,  the  spectators,  lawyers,  and  jury  rise;  but  neither  the 
judges  nor  jury  rise  during  the  charge.  The  verdict  is  given  while  the  prisoner 
is  out  of  the  room,  and  he  is  immediately  called  in  and  it  is  announced  to  him. 
If  it  be  '*  Coupable,"  the  judges  rise  and  confer  together  (on  one  occasion  I 
saw  them  retire  to  their  room  and  agree  upon  the  sentence,  having  regard  to 
the  code);  if  it  be  "  Non  coupable,"  the  accused  is  discharged,  the  judge 
perhaps  giving  him  some  good  moral  advice. 

In  the  evening,  heard  Corneille's  great  production,  Cinna,  at  the  Odeon. 

April  5.  At  the  Cour  d' Assises;  also  was  at  the  exhibition  of  the  Sourds- 
Muets,  —  the  deaf  and  dumb. 

April  6.  At  the  Cour  d' Assises;  heard  part  of  a  rather  complicated  case 
for  forgery.    At  three  o'clock,  went  with  Mr.  Wilks  ("O.P.  Q.")  to  visit  David,2 

1  Fanny  Elssler  (sister  of  Therese,  who  was  born  in  1808)  was  born  in  Vienna  in  1811. 
She  won  great  applause  as  a  dancer  in  European  cities,  appearing  in  Paris  in  1834.  She, 
with  her  sister,  visited  the  United  States  in  1841.  She  took  leave  of  the  stage  in  1851,  and 
has  since  resided  at  her  villa  near  Hamburg. 

2  Pierre  Jean  David,  1789-1856.  His  first  great  work  was  a  statue  of  the  Prince  of  Conde\ 
He  was  an  earnest  Republican,  and  his  genius  delighted  most  in  commemorating  in  busts 
and  statues  the  benefactors  of  mankind,  — as  scholars,  men  of  science,  patriots,  and  liberal 
statesmen.  Sumner  wrote  to  Hillard,  April  10,  of  his  visit  to  David :  "  I  was  presented  to 
him  as  a  Republican  and  an  American,  which  at  once  opened  his  heart." 


282  MEMOIR  OF  CHARLES  SUMNER.  [1838. 

the  great  sculptor,  the  author  of  the  piece  in  front  of  the  Pantheon,  and  of 
many  of  the  statues  which  have  been  lately  erected  in  France.  He  has  just 
completed  a  statue  of  Riquet,1  the  engineer  who,  in  the  time  of  Louis  XIV., 
started  the  idea  of  the  canal  of  Languedoc.  I  spent  a  long  time  in  his  atelier, 
during  which  the  great  artist  was  kind  enough  to  show  me  the  casts  of  his 
principal  works.  The  statue  of  Riquet  is  colossal;  it  was  just  completed  in 
the  clay,  and  was  to  be  modelled  in  marble  by  another  hand.  In  one  part 
of  his  atelier  a  workman  was  engaged  on  the  statue  of  Cuvier:  it  was  thus 
that  I  witnessed  a  practical  illustration  of  what  I  had  heard,  that  great  artists 
confine  themselves  to  modelling,  leaving  the  heavy  working  in  marble  to  other 
hands.  David  is  a  great  Republican.  He  talked  much  about  Republicanism ; 
and  to  his  views  on  this  subject  I  was  doubtless  indebted  for  some  of  the 
cordiality  with  which  I  was  received.  Dined  with  Mr.  Wilks  at  Passy, 
the  residence  of  Benjamin  Franklin;  find  Wilks  a  striking  illustration  of 
the  literary  Swiss,  who  lets  his  pen  out  for  hire  to  any  side  that  will  pay 
well;  formerly  the  vigorous  correspondent  of  the  "  Morning  Chronicle,"  and 
now  that  of  the  "  Standard,"  and  writing  for  "  Tait  "  and  "  Frazer  "  at  the 
same  time. 

April  7.  Had  a  treat  to-day  at  the  Cour  de  Cassation.  A  very  important 
case  was  to  come  on,  involving  a  question  of  French  constitutional  law,  in 
which  Dupin,  the  Procureur-General  and  President  of  the  Deputies,  was  to 
speak.  I  was  in  the  queue  at  the  entree  of  the  avocats  for  half  an  hour  before 
the  door  opened.  While  there,  a  gentleman  and  lady  approached ;  the  gen- 
tleman was  tall  and  rather  loosely  put  together,  —  not  unlike,  in  this  particu- 
lar, Henry  Clay.  I  looked  at  him  for  one  moment,  and  at  once  knew  him  to 
be  Lord  Brougham,  who  is  now  in  Paris,  from  the  resemblance  to  the  carica- 
tures, though  all  these  are  immensely  exaggerated.  He  inquired  for  the 
office  of  M.  Dupin,  and  subsequently  entered  the  court  in  his  company,  and 
had  a  chair  by  his  side.  I  watched  him  during  the  whole  sitting ;  he  ap- 
peared much  at  his  ease,  first  putting  one  leg  across  the  other  and  then 
changing;  gaping,  and  talking  with  his  neighbor.  After  the  first  counsel  had 
concluded,  there  was  a  recess  of  five  minutes,  during  which  Brougham  left 
his  seat,  and  came  among  the  spectators  to  talk  with  a  Frenchman  whom  he 
recognized.  He  appeared  to  talk  right  and  left,  without  any  consciousness 
that  people  were  watching  and  observing.  His  motion  and  step  reminded 
me  of  Judge  Story's,  as  also  did  his  animated  voice  and  manner.  The  cause 
that  was  argued  was  very  important.  M.  Laborde,  on  one  side,  made  what 
I  thought  a  very  beautiful  speech,  —  animated,  flowing,  French.  He  used  a 
brief,  which  appeared  to  contain  the  quotations  only  which  he  made;  I  think 
the  whole  argument  had  been  written  out  and  committed  to  memory.  Dupin 
was  dry  and  quiet  in  his  delivery,  having  his  whole  argument  written  out,  and 
reading  it  without  pretending  to  look  off  his  paper.2  He  appeared  here,  as  in 
the  Chamber  of  Deputies,  vulgar.  The  room  in  which  the  Cour  de  Cassation 
met  was  quite  rich.     The  judges,  as  I  counted  them,  were  fifteen. 

1  Pierre  Paul  Riquet,  1604-1680.    He  was  the  engineer  as  well  as  projector  of  the  canal. 

2  Sumner  wrote  to  Judge  Story,  April  21,  that  "  Dupin,  the  first  lawyer  of  France,  is  not 
equal  to  Webster." 


Mt.  27.1 


COUR  DE  CASSATION. 


283 


AJ 


C  D    j 

c 

*  ! 

c 

c 

F 


J  L 


I I 


The  public. 


A ,  a  desk  and  bench  not  occupied  on  ordinary  occasions ;  reserved,  I  be- 
lieve, for  the  presence  of  the  king. 

B,  the  king's  seat. 

C,  the  benches  occupied  by  the  court  ordinarily. 

D,  the  seat  of  the  President. 

Ey  the  seat  of  the  Procureur-General,  at  the  left  of  whom  was  Brougham. 

F,  greffier. 

G,  aisle  between  the  part  for  the  judges  and  the  rest  of  the  court. 

H,  the  advocate  who  speaks  (except  the  Procureur-General,  who  by  office 
has  a  seat  within). 

Over  the  king's  chair  in  this  court-room  is  an  excellent  portrait  of  Louis 
Philippe. 

April  8.  Had  a  treat  to-day  of  an  opposite  kind  from  that  of  yesterday, 
—  heard  M.  Coquerel1  preach,  and  thought  him  truly  eloquent,  and  much 
superior  as  a  preacher  to  M.  Dupin  as  a  lawyer. 

1  Athanase  Laurent  Charles  Coquerel,  1795-1868.  This  French  Protestant  divine,  horn 
in  Paris,  preached  twelve  years  in  Holland,  and  returned  to  Paris  in  1830.    He  served,  in 


284  MEMOIR  OF  CHARLES  SUMNER.  [1838. 


TO  GEORGE  S.  HILLARD. 

Paris,  April  10,  1838. 

My  dear  Hillard,  —  For  some  days  I  have  been  steeped  in  law  to  the 
very  lips.  I  have  attended  the  courts  every  day,  and  in  the  Cour  d' Assises 
have  had  a  comfortable  and  honorable  seat  assigned  me  by  the  court ;  and  I 
assure  you  that  the  observations  I  have  made  are  not  unimportant.  I  am 
diligently  studying  the  operation  of  the  French  Code,  in  which  I  find  much 
to  admire.  The  whole  procedure  has  struck  me  most  favorably.  I  will  only 
say  at  present,  that  those  who  have  spoken  and  written  about  it  in  England 
and  in  the  United  States  have  not  understood  it;  or  else  have  calumniated  it 
grossly.  A  tertium  quid  which  should  be  the  result  of  the  French  and  English 
manner  of  procedure  would  be  as  near  perfection  as  I  can  imagine;  but  I 
am  inclined  to  think,  —  indeed,  I  am  convinced,  —  that  if  I  were  compelled 
to  adopt  the  whole  of  either  without  admixture,  I  should  take  the  French. 
My  mind  is  full  of  this  subject,  but  I  will  not  enlarge  upon  it  at  present.  .  .  . 

Dupin  1  is  celebrated  for  his  terseness  of  expression,  for  his  epigrams  and 
points,  and  he  sustained  his  character  in  this  respect;  but  his  manner  was 
dull  and  inanimate,  and  his  appearance  vulgar, — in  French  I  should  say, 
grossier.  He  was  more  subtle  than  broad, — an  opinion  which  Brougham 
expressed  to  a  friend  of  mine  after  the  argument.  In  writing  out  his  argu- 
ment, he  followed  the  example  of  Cochin  and  the  great  lawyers  in  France  of 
one  and  two  centuries  ago.  Dupin,  you  know,  is  President  of  the  Chamber 
of  Deputies;  I  have  seen  him  there,  and  do  not  like  him.  He  has  made 
some  rulings  on  points  of  order  this  winter  in  the  Chamber,  which  would 
have  properly  proceeded  from  the  Czar  of  Russia  or  the  Sultan  of  Turkey ; 
but  parliamentary  proceedings  are  not  understood  at  all  in  France.  I  shall 
fatigue  you  with  law  and  politics,  but  out  of  the  fulness  of  the  mind  the  pen 
moves.  .  .  . 

As  ever  affectionately  yours,  C.  S. 


JOURNAL. 


April  10.  To-day  was  presented  by  Colonel  White  2  to  Madame  Murat,3 
the  sister  of  Napoleon  and  ex-queen  of  Naples,  and  widow  of  the  great 
captain  of  cavalry.     She  is  now  at  Paris  to  prosecute  a  claim  against  the 

1848  and  1849,  as  a  moderate  Republican,  in  the  Constituent  and  Legislative  Assemblies. 
He  withdrew  from  politics  upon  the  coup  d'etat  of  Louis  Napoleon,  and  thereafter  devoted 
himself  exclusively  to  his  profession. 

1  Referring  to  Dupin's  argument  in  the  Court  of  Cassation,  ante,  p.  282. 

2  Joseph  M.  White,  delegate  to  Congress  from  Florida  from  1823  to  1837.  He  died  at 
St.  Louis  in  1839. 

8  Caroline  Bonaparte,  Napoleon's  youngest  sister,  was  born  at  Ajaccio,  March  26, 1782. 
As  the  wife  of  Murat,  whom  she  married  in  1800,  she  became  Queen  of  Naples  in  1808.  After 
his  execution,  in  1815,  she  assumed  the  title  of  Countess  of  Lipona.  She  lived  at  Trieste 
many  years,  and  died  in  Florence,  May  18,  1839.  In  1838,  the  French  Assembly  granted 
her  a  pension.    Her  son,  Napoleon  Achille,  died  in  Florida  in  1847. 


&t.  27.]  CRIMINAL  PROCEDURE.  285 

Government  for  the  Palais  de  l'filysee  Bourbon.  She  is  full  sixty,  but  appears 
to  be  forty-five.  She  received  me  quite  cordially  in  her  bedroom,  where  there 
were  already  three  or  four  ladies,  and,  in  the  true  French  style,  was  pleased 
to  compliment  me  on  my  French;  when,  indeed,  I  spoke  wretchedly,  —  not 
speaking  as  well  as  I  might,  for  I  felt  a  little  awe  at  the  presence  in  which  I 
found  myself.  She  is  rather  stout,  with  a  free,  open,  pleasant  countenance 
and  ready  smile.  Presently  some  marquis  or  other  titled  man  was  announced, 
and  she  said,  "  Cest  terrible ,"  and  rose  and  passed  to  the  salon,  where  she 
received  him.  Her  countenance  had  the  roundness  which  belonged  to  Na- 
poleon's, but  none  of  his  marble-like  gravity.  In  the  evening  went  to  a 
dinner.1 

We  hardly  found  ourselves  at  table  before  eight  o'clock.  The  American 
minister,  the  Greek  ambassador,  and  a  large  company  of  a  hundred  or  more 
were  there.  After  the  dinner,  what  was  my  astonishment  to  hear  my  name 
introduced  into  some  remarks  of  the  President,  with  terms  of  praise,  which, 
though  disguised  in  a  foreign  language,  sounded  most  strange  and  unde- 
served. An  ambassador  could  not  have  a  longer  or  more  richly-embroidered 
paragraph  devoted  to  his  merits.     And  then  the  company  applauded. 

April  12.  Heard  a  singular  admission  of  hearsay  evidence  in  court  to-day. 
The  accused  was  partly  identified  as  the  person  who  committed  the  alleged 
theft  through  the  medium  of  a  handkerchief,  which  had  been  found  in  the 
place  where  the  theft  had  been  committed.  The  evidence  was  quite  strong 
that  this  handkerchief  belonged  to  the  prisoner.  His  advocate,  in  his  defence, 
stated  that  he  had  seen  the  washerwoman  of  the  accused  and  described  to  her 
the  handkerchief  in  question,  and  she  had  said  that  she  had  never  washed  such 
a  handkerchief  ior  the  prisoner.  The  court  at  once  admitted  the  advocate  as 
a  witness,  to  state  what  the  washerwoman  had  told  him! 

April  14.  To-day  heard  a  case  of  avortement  against  two  females.  The 
trial  lasted  from  eleven  o'clock  in  the  forenoon  till  seven  o'clock  in  the  even- 
ing. The  two  were  acquitted,  much  to  the  astonishment  of  many.  When 
their  acquittal  was  declared,  they  both  threw  themselves  on  their  knees  and 
raised  their  clasped  hands  to  Heaven  in  thankfulness,  and  then  kissed  each 
other.  After  the  trial,  dined  with  one  of  the  successful  advocates.  Agree- 
ably to  a  provision  of  the  code,  at  the  commencement  of  the  examination  of 
the  witnesses,  the  public  were  dismissed  from  the  court,  as  the  evidence 
concerned  the  public  morals. 

April  15.  This  evening  saw  an  interesting  personage,  —  a  commissaire 
de  police,  at  his  house.  One  of  my  friends  was  robbed,  and  had  complained 
to  the  police,  who  had  been  indefatigable  in  their  search.  I  called  with  my 
friend  upon  the  commissaire  this  evening.  His  conversation  showed  re- 
markable expertness  in  his  business,  and  what  a  trade  it  is  in  Paris  to  detect 
thieves.  He  drew  from  his  pocket  a  white,  red,  and  blue  sash,  which  he 
told  me  he  always  carried  with  him,  and  in  any  emergency  put  it  on,  when 

l  "Diner  Encyclop^dique  de  1'Union  des  Nations."  The  President  was  Jullien  de  Paris, 
who  was  born  in  1775,  and  died  in  1848.  He  was  a  Jacobin  during  the  Revolution.  In 
1818  he  founded  the  Revue  Encychpedique. 


286  MEMOIR  OF  CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1838. 

at  once  his  person  became  sacred.  He  spoke  with  something  approaching 
contempt  of  our  laws;  and  said,  "Dans  votre.  pays  il  rty  a  pas  de  justice  du 
tout" :  if  he  could  have  the  making  of  the  laws,  he  would  make  a  law  by 
which  all  thieves  should  be  hung! 

Here  the  Journal  ends. 


TO  SIMON  GREENLEAF,  CAMBRIDGE. 

Paris,  April  13,  1838. 

My  dear  Friend,  — Your  letter  was  a  green  leaf  cast  up  by  the  ocean, 
—  fresh,  cheering,  and  full  of  goodly  tokens.  Would  that  I  could  take  the 
wings  of  the  morning,  —  or  of  the  evening  rather,  —  and  cross  for  one  day 
the  depths  of  water  that  part  me  from  Cambridge  and  Boston !  One  draught 
from  the  deep  fountains  of  home  would  be  better  than  all  the  rich  sources 
which  are  open  about  me.  And  yet  I  have  renounced  the  former  willingly, 
ay,  joyously  for  the  time,  and  have  found  no  occasion  to  repent  of  my  choice. 
Since  I  have  been  in  Paris  my  every  moment  has  been  occupied ;  and  one  of 
the  subjects  which  has  interested  me  much  is  the  lectures  and  the  manner  of 
lecturing  at  the  Law  School  (where  there  are  four  thousand  pupils  from  all 
the  countries  of  the  world  except  the  United  States),  and  at  the  Sorbonne, 
and  the  College  of  France.  I  have  heard,  perhaps,  one  hundred  and  fifty 
or  two  hundred  lectures  in  all  branches  of  jurisprudence  (droit),  belles-lettres, 
and  philosophy.1  .  .  . 

Most  of  the  lectures  at  the  Law  School  consist  of  commentaries  on  the 
French  Codes,  and  the  Institutes  and  Pandects  of  the  Roman  law.  The 
professor  has  before  him  the  law  which  forms  the  subject  of  his  lectures ;  he 
first  reads  a  section,  and,  if  it  be  the  French  Code,  takes  clause  by  clause,  and 
in  a  free,  easy,  and  conversational  manner  expounds  it,  illustrates  the  im- 
portance of  the  provision,  and  the  reasons  which  led  to  its  adoption.  Judge 
Story's  Commentaries  on  the  Constitution  are  executed  in  precisely  the  style 
of  these  lectures,  except  that  there  is  in  them  more  unction  and  more  research 
than  in  any  law-lecture  I  have  heard  in  France.  If  the  subject  of  the  lect- 
ure be  the  Roman  law,  the  professor  reads  one  section  and  then  translates  it 
critically,  giving  occasionally  some  of  the  different  readings.  The  lectures 
on  the  Roman  law  were  excessively  dry,  —  almost  repulsive.  There  is  but 
little  in  the  manner  of  these  professors  that  differs  from  that  at  Cambridge, 
except  that  the  examination  of  the  students  is  not  intermingled  with  the 
exposition  of  the  professors.  But  I  would  not  have  you  understand  that  the 
students  escape  examination ;  if  they  desire  the  diploma  of  Bachelor  of  Laws, 
which  is  necessary  in  order  to  be  admitted  to  the  bar,  they  must  undergo 
repeated  examinations, — not  as  with  us,  for  the  sake  of  strengthening 
and  confirming  their  knowledge,  but  in  order  to  test  it,  and  ascertain  if  it 

1  A  description  of  the  lecture  rooms  and  of  the  dress  of  the  professors,  similar  to  that 
already  given  in  the  Journal,  is  omitted. 


jEt.27.]  THE  METHODS  OF  PROFESSORS.  287 

actually  exist.  The  students  almost  invariably  take  notes,  and  for  this  pur- 
pose have  portfolios  containing  an  inkstand  and  paper  which  they  bring  into 
the  lecture  room.  I  have  seen  them  very  often  taking  down  what  I  did 
not  think  was  worth  noting,  and  which  they  would  have  known,  if  they 
had  read  faithfully  the  codes,  even  without  the  assistance  of  the  commenta- 
tors. Some  of  the  students  are  attentive ;  others  again  are  quite  indifferent. 
There  seems  to  be  about  the  same  proportion  of  black  and  white  sheep  that 
you  find  in  your  fold.  The  professors  are  all,  or  nearly  all  (there  are 
fifteen),  authors,  and  some  of  them  rather  celebrated;  but  no  man  among 
them  has  struck  me  as  a  distinguished  jurist.     One  of  the  most  eminent 

—  perhaps  the  most  eminent  —  is  the  Baron  de  Gerando,  whom  I  know  per- 
sonally very  well;  but  he  does  not  appear  to  take  any  interest  in  his  place, 
though  he  takes  a  deep  and  lively  interest  in  all  the  great  causes  of  humanity 
and  virtue.  Of  all,  I  prefer  M.  Rossi,  who  lectures  on  constitutional  law;  he 
is  a  man  of  broad  and  liberal  views,  and  of  more  various  studies,  I  suspect, 
than  the  others.  I  have  heard  him  quote  Blackstone  in  his  lectures,  and  I 
can  assure  you  it  sounded  at  once  ridiculous  and  agreeable.  The  horizon  of 
the  French  lawyer  is  extremely  limited.  Foreign  nations,  with  their  various 
laws,  are  nothing  to  him.  Strong  in  the  Chinese  conceit  that  France  is  the 
celestial  nation,  he  neglects  with  a  truly  Mohammedan  indifference  all  but 
his  own  peculiar  jurisprudence;  and  in  the  study  of  this  I  am  strongly  in- 
clined to  believe  that  he  generally  bounds  his  labors  by  the  perusal  of  the 
codes,  and  some  few  of  the  commentators.     I  write  this  with  some  hesitation, 

—  not  however  because  what  I  have  seen  has  left  any  doubt  upon  my  mind, 
but  because  I  am  reluctant  to  judge  foreigners.  But  one  of  the  most  dis- 
tinguished of  their  professors  (M.  Bravard,  Professor  of  Commercial  Law) 
made  a  confession  to  me,  similar  to  what  I  have  stated  above. 

The  manner  of  lecturing  in  the  departments  of  belles-lettres  and  of  phi- 
losophy is  similar  to  that  I  have  already  described.    The  most  eminent  men, 

—  Biot,  whose  works  are  used  at  Cambridge,  and  Baron  Poisson,  —  take  the 
chalk  and  sponge  and  stand  for  an  hour  at  the  blackboard ;  and  other  eminent 
professors  expound  a  section  of  Sallust  or  of  Herodotus  to  perhaps  a  dozen 
young  men,  who,  with  the  classics  in  their  hands,  sit  round  a  table  of  the  size 
of  those  in  our  rooms  at  Cambridge.  And  yet  these  manipulations  at  the  black- 
board, and  these  familiar  expositions  of  a  classic  (often  made  at  eight  o'clock 
of  the  morning),  are  called  lectures.  You  will  see,  therefore,  that  you  were 
never  wrong  in  styling  the  exercises  at  the  law  school  lectures :  according  to 
the  vocabulary  in  use  here,  they  are  such  without  doubt.  I  have  much 
to  say  with  regard  to  this  subject,  but  cannot  compass  it  within  the  bounds 
of  a  letter.  At  present,  another  subject  of  even  greater  importance  is  en- 
grossing my  mind,  —  I  mean  the  courts,  and  the  operation  of  the  codes.  I 
have  only  time  to  say  that  I  have  been  most  agreeably  disappointed  in  the 
penal  code.  There  is  much  in  it  which  we  must  adopt.  Would  that  I  could 
draw  a  sponge  over  all  our  criminal  law,  whether  by  statute,  custom,  prece- 
dent, or  however  otherwise  evidenced!  When  I  see  the  simplicity,  neatness, 
and  common  sense  of  the  procedure  here,  I  sigh  over  the  cumbrous,  anti- 
quated forms  and  vocabulary  which  we  persist  in  retaining.     But  this  is  not 


288  MEMOIR   OF  CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1838. 

to  be  discussed  at  the  end  of  a  letter.  I  shall  return,  not  simply  a  codifier, 
but  a  revolutionist ;  always  ready  however,  I  trust,  to  be  illuminated  by  the 
superior  wisdom  of  my  friends. 

I  regret  daily  that  I  have  not  a  credit  in  behalf  of  the  College  for  the  pur- 
chase of  books;  with  two  hundred  dollars,  I  could  fill  up  many  little  chasms 
of  French  law.  Our  collection  is  very  good,  but  it  is  not  complete.  You 
have  not  even  the  continuation  of  Toullier,  by  Troplong,  which  a  French 
judge  told  me  lately  was  as  good  as  the  Work  of  Toullier  itself  —  great  praise. 
I  have  not  yet  heard  from  the  Judge,  and  know  nothing  about  the  Supreme 
Court,  and  the  decisions  during  the  last  winter.  Write  me  about  these. 
With  affectionate  regards  to  Mrs.  G.,  as  ever  your  affectionate  friend, 

Chas.  Sumner. 


TO  JUDGE  STORY. 

Paris,  April  21,  1838. 

My  dear  Judge.  .  .  .  Your  communications  about  the  Supreme  Court 
were  most  interesting,  because  in  that  body  have  I  garnered  up  all  the  hopes 
which  I  build  for  my  country.  And  let  me  tell  you,  my  dear  Judge,  that  the 
sentiment  of  patriotism,  of  love  of  country,  is  called  out  most  strongly  by 
contact  with  foreigners.  I  have  never  felt  myself  so  much  an  American,  have 
never  loved  my  country  so  ardently,  as  since  I  left  it.  I  live  in  the  midst  of 
manners,  institutions,  and  a  form  of  government  wholly  unlike  those  under 
which  I  was  born ;  and  I  now  feel  in  stronger  relief  than  ever  the  superior 
character  impressed  upon  our  country  in  all  the  essentials  of  happiness, 
honor,  and  prosperity.  I  would  not  exchange  my  country  for  all  that  I  can 
see  and  enjoy  here.  And  dull  must  his  soul  be,  unworthy  of  America,  who 
would  barter  the  priceless  intelligence  which  pervades  his  whole  country, 
—  the  universality  of  happiness,  the  absence  of  beggary,  the  reasonable 
equality  of  all  men  as  regards  each  other  and  the  law,  and  the  general  vigor 
which  fills  every  member  of  society,  besides  the  high  moral  tone,  —  and  take 
the  state  of  things  which  I  find  here,  where  wealth  flaunts  by  the  side  of 
the  most  squalid  poverty,  where  your  eyes  are  constantly  annoyed  by  the 
most  disgusting  want  and  wretchedness,  and  where  American  purity  is 
inconceivable.  .  .  . 

I  have  attended  court  every  day,  and  am  delighted  with  the  operation  of 
the  French  penal  code.  There  are  many  particulars  in  which  they  have 
immeasurably  the  start  of  us,  and  I  shall  never  rest  content  until  I  see  some 
alterations  in  our  criminal  jurisprudence.  Here  is  an  immense  topic  of  dis- 
cussion, and  I  desire  much  the  light  of  your  counsel.  I  have  talked  with  all 
sorts  of  professional  men  with  regard  to  the  operation  of  the  code,  and  am 
glad  to  find  that  the  enemies  of  codification  in  England  and  America  have 
calumniated  its  plan  because  they  did  not  understand  it.  By  the  way,  one 
of  the  most  distinguished  jurists  of  France,  —  M.  Victor  Foucher,1  —  spent 

1  Victor  Adrien  Foucher,  1802-1866. 


JEt.  27.]  A  PROFESSOR'S  INAUGURATION.  289 

some  time  with  me  at  my  room  yesterday,  during  which  we  talked  much  of 
you. 

As  ever  affectionately,  C.  S. 

Since  writing  this,  I  have  spent  a  long  evening  talking  with  Bravard, 
Professor  of  Commercial  Law  and  the  successor  of  Pardessus. 


TO  PROFESSOR  SIMON  GREENLEAF. 

Paris,  May  6,  1838. 
My  dear  Friend,  —  I  think  you  have  hardly  yet  lost  your  interest  in 
inaugurations,  particularly  of  law-professors.  I  will,  therefore,  tell  you  how 
this  affair  is  ordered  in  France.  Another  professorship,  in  addition  to  the 
fifteen  already  existing  in  the  School  of  Law,  has  just  been  established  to 
treat  of  comparative  penal  legislation;  and  M.  Ortolan  has  been  chosen  profes- 
sor. His  first  or  inaugural  lecture  took  place  last  week.  Now  the  inaugural 
lecture  is  nothing  more  than  theirs*  lecture  of  the  course,  in  which  the  pro- 
fessor salutes  his  audience  and  gives  an  outline  of  his  subject.  I  presented 
myself  in  proper  season  at  the  door  of  the  lecture  room,  and  was  refused 
entrance  by  the  janitor  because  I  had  no  ticket,  which  was  required  on  this 
occasion  from  some  motives  of  police,  but  which  could  have  been  procured 
beforehand.  Determined  not  to  lose  the  inaugural,  I  stepped  into  the  porter's 
lodge,  demanded  a  morsel  of  paper,  and  wrote  something  like  the  following: 
"  M.  Sumner,  avocat  des  Etats-Unis,  a  Vhonneur  de  saluer  Monsieur  Ortolan,  et 
de  lui  exprimer  son  empressement  a  entendre  la  premiere  lecon  de  M.  Ortolan  au- 
jourdliui.  M.  S.  attendra  chez  le  concierge  un  billet  d' 'entree."  I  handed  this 
note  to  the  porter,  and  asked  him  to  carry  it  to  the  professor,  who  was  then 
in  his  robing-room,  just  assuming  the  red  gown  and  cap.  The  porter  at  once 
returned  with  M.  Ortolan's  compliments  to  me,  and  ushered  me  into  the 
robing-room  of  the  professor,  who  received  me  with  great  distinction ;  and 
astonished  me  by  saying  that  he  had  been  apprised  beforehand  of  my  inten- 
tion to  honor  his  lecture  by  my  presence,  and  directed  the  attendant  to  show 
me  into  the  lecture  room  by  the  professors'  entrance ;  and  I  soon  found  my- 
self seated  in  the  circle  of  the  great  lawyers  of  France,  near  Dupin,  the 
Procureur-General,  Troplong,  the  continuator  of  Toullier,  &c.  Soon,  the 
professor  entered,  —  a  short,  modest,  dark-haired  man  of  thirty-five  or  forty. 
His  countenance  trembled  with  anxiety ;  but  his  entrance  was  received  with 
a  shout  from  the  students.  He  took  his  seat,  and  then,  ex  cathedra,  deliv- 
ered his  lecture,  putting  on  his  hat  immediately  after  the  utterance  of  the 
first  sentence.  In  his  lecture  he  discussed  the  importance  of  comparative 
penal  legislation,  and  gave  an  outline  of  the  manner  in  which  he  proposed  to 
treat  the  subject.  Several  times  was  he  interrupted  by  a  shout  of  applause 
from  the  students;  and  when  he  ceased  the  shout  was  redoubled.  He  imme- 
diately left  the  room,  and  so  ended  the  inauguration.1     You  see  that  an  in- 

1  The  legal  journals  which  gave  an  account  of  the  ceremonies  noted  Sumner  among  the 
distinguished  persons  present. 

VOL.    I.  19 


290  MEMOIR  OF  CHARLES  SUMNER.  [1838. 

auguration  is  a  simple  affair;  but  I  believe  that  this  man  met  it  with  as  great 
anxiety  as  a  friend  of  mine  on  the  other  side  of  the  salt  sea.  The  students 
here  form  such  a  numerous  and  powerful  body,  and  are  under  so  little  re- 
straint, that  a  professor  feels  much  solicitude  with  regard  to  his  reception 
until  he  has  actually  met  them  face  to  face.  You  see,  from  this  account, 
that  there  is  no  solemnity,  no  squeezing  out  of  reluctant  Latin ;  but  the  Latin 
must  be  exhibited  before.  In  order  to  be  chosen  professor,  one  must  contest 
before  certain  judges  certain  topics  of  law  in  Latin!  The  judges,  after  this 
concours,  as  it  is  called,  make  the  election. 

In  a  bundle  of  books  which  I  shall  send  home  will  be  a  letter,  written  by 
a  friend  of  mine,  the  Professor  of  Commercial  Law,  to  the  Minister  of  In- 
struction, making  fun  of  this  old  usage,  and  asking  for  its  abolition.  I 
got  the  author  to  give  me  some  copies,  for  I  thought  it  might  do  good  in 
helping  to  explode  the  practice  among  us  of  using  Latin  at  inaugurations. 

I  find  much  more  to  interest  me  at  Paris  than  I  expected.  I  have  been 
here  four  months ;  but  I  leave  much  unseen,  and  many  pursuits  neglected.  I 
wish  that  I  were  able  to  spend  three  or  four  more  months  here,  immediately 
before  my  return.  I  am  excessively  anxious  to  make  myself  master  of  the 
operation  of  the  code  and  of  the  system  of  legal  instruction.  The  last  I 
think  I  have  done  pretty  well ;  but  the  first  is  a  great  work  which  it  would 
take  months,  perhaps  years,  to  accomplish.  I  shall  be  in  England  soon,  — 
the  great  theatre  of  a  different  jurisprudence.  You  shall  hear  how  that 
affects  me.  This  is  a  dull  letter  for  Mrs.  G. ;  but  my  recollections  are  not 
the  less  affectionate  on  this  account. 

Yours  as  ever, 

Chas.  Sumner. 


TO  GEORGE  S.  HILLARD. 

Paris,  May  11,  1838. 
My  dear  Hillard,  —  After  repeated  efforts,  during  which  we  have 
exchanged  cards  several  times,  I  have  seen  Sismondi,1  who  is  now  in  Paris 
to  superintend  the  publication  of  a  new  book.  He  received  me  almost  like 
an  old  friend,  with  great  ardor  and  simplicity  of  manner,  at  once  speaking 
English,  and  not  allowing  me  to  speak  French.  He  is  a  stout  person,  of 
about  fifty-five,  perhaps  sixty;  of  great  vivacity  and  cheerfulness,  and  with- 
out the  least  affectation.  His  countenance  does  not  denote  the  student,  but 
there  is  in  it  that  quickness  of  motion  and  peculiar  brightness  of  expression 
which  rather  mark  the  man  of  affairs :  I  might  take  him  for  the  steward  or 
manager  of  a  large  concern  in  the  country.  His  wife  has  much  more  the  air 
of  society;  she  is  as  graceful  as  simple,  and  both  exhibited  towards  each 
other  a  loverlike  attachment.  She  speaks  English  very  prettily.  I  spoke  of 
Mr.  Prescott's  book,  which  I  have  had  an  opportunity  of  reading  cursorily  at 

1  Sismondi  was  born  at  Geneva,  May  9,  1773,  and  died  in  that  city  in  1842.  He  is  besl 
known  by  his  two  works,  the  "History  of  the  Italian  Republics  "  and  the  "  History  of  the 
French."     His  wife  was  an  English  lady,  and  a  sister-in-law  of  Sir  James  Mackintosh. 


JEt.  27.]  SISMONDI.  291 

Paris.  It  seems  that  Sismondi  had  just  received  a  copy  without  note  or  any 
indication  from  whom  it  came;  but  he  supposes  it,  perhaps  rightly,  from  the 
author.  He  requested  me,  when  writing  home,  to  let  Mr.  Prescott  know  that 
he  had  received  it;  that  he  had  glanced  through  its  pages  with  the  greatest 
pleasure,  and  had  found  masses  of  authorities  cited  in  the  notes  with  which  he 
had  been  hitherto  entirely  unacquainted.  He  added  that,  as  he  was  in  Paris 
for  only  a  short  time,  he  should  not  read  the  work  till  his  return  to  Geneva, 
when  he  should  address  the  author  a  letter.  I  recounted  to  him  the  circum- 
stances so  discouraging  under  which  the  work  had  been  composed,  and  I  assure 
you  he  received  them  with  the  liveliest  interest.  He  said  that  he  could  never 
have  struggled  against  such  difficulties  himself,  and  that  he  should  fall  asleep 
at  once  on  hearing  a  foreign  language  read.  I  trust  you  to  mention  to  Mr. 
Prescott  what  Sismondi  requested  I  should  write  him.  I  regret  that  I  have 
not  been  able  to  procure  here  a  couple  of  copies  of  Prescott's  book,  as 
there  are  two  Spaniards  now  here,  whom  I  have  met  several  times  and 
feel  considerably  acquainted  with,  who  are  prepared  from  my  conversation  to 
be  interested  in  the  work;  one  is  the  Procureur-General  of  Spain,  and  the 
other  is  a  Deputy  of  the  Cortez.  If  I  could  sow  the  seed  with  them,  it  might 
add  to  the  author's  just  reputation  and  to  the  character  of  our  country.  This 
last  consideration  is  one  which  I  bear  not  a  little  in  mind  in  my  intercourse 
with  foreigners.  Much  were  my  Spanish  friends  astonished,  that  the  great 
sovereigns  of  their  country  should  find  a  historian  on  the  other  side  of  the 
water. 

Sismondi  talked  much  and  with  great  ardor  of  slavery.  He  is  a  thor- 
ough abolitionist,  and  is  astonished  that  our  country  will  not  take  a  lesson 
from  the  ample  page  of  the  past  and  eradicate  slavery,  as  has  been  done 
in  the  civilized  parts  of  Europe.  The  serfs  of  the  feudal  system  have  en- 
tirely disappeared,  and  a  better  state  of  society  has  taken  their  place.  I  had 
heard  in  America  that  the  little  history  of  the  Italian  Republics  in  Lardner's 
"  Cyclopaedia  "  had  been  composed  in  English  by  him;  he  told  me  that  it  was 
translated  under  his  eyes,  but  not  by  him,  for  that  he  cannot  write  English. 
The  "  Decline  and  Fall  of  the  Roman  Empire  "  was  translated  by  Mrs.  Austin. 
He  inquired  after  Dr.  Channing  particularly,  and  expressed  his  admiration 
of  his  sermons,  but,  above  all,  of  his  work  on  slavery.  The  brochure  on  Texas 
he  had  not  yet  received.  He  is  anxious  for  some  provision  in  our  country 
securing  a  copyright  to  authors,  but  he  would  be  content  with  a  moderate 
allowance ;  he  says  there  is  a  middle  ground  on  which  the  rights  of  the  public 
might  be  respected,  as  well  as  those  of  authors.  He  thought  Sergeant  Tal- 
fourd  had  gone  too  far. 

Have  I  written  you  that  De  Gerando  is  preparing  a  large  work  in  three 
volumes  on  the  "Charitable  Institutions  of  the  World?  "  What  he  says 
about  those  of  the  United  States  I  was  asked  to  read  in  manuscript.  I 
have  no  doubt  the  work  will  contain  much  valuable  matter.  De  Gerando 
has  been  made  a  peer  this  winter.  He  is  rather  old,  and  appears  (if  I  may 
use  the  expression)  a  little  fussy  in  his  manner.  His  mind  seems  filled  by 
his  book,  whether  he  is  in  his  professor's  chair,  his  seat  as  peer,  his  salon,  or 
at  the  head  of  his  table ;  in  all  of  which  places  I  have  seen  him.     He  is  quite 


292  MEMOIR  OF  CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1838. 

an  ancient  professor  in  the  Law  School ;  but  his  lectures  are  now  listened  to 
with  but  little  interest,  and  I  am  inclined  to  think  justly.  I  have  heard  one 
of  his  brother  professors  make  not  a  little  fun  about  him.  This,  I  must 
remark,  is  quite  consistent  with  the  French  character.  I  have  hardly  met  a 
Frenchman  who  spoke  well  of  another;  and  I  have  heard  a  professor  of  the 
Law  School  take  up  his  brethren,  professors  at  the  same  school,  and  deal 
judgment  upon  each  in  succession.  .  .  . 

As  ever  affectionately  yours, 

Chas.  Sumneh. 


TO  JUDGE  STORY. 

Paris,  May  10,  1838. 
My  dear  Judge,  —  My  letters  are  the  hurried  effusions  of  the  moment, 
written  with  a  racing  pen ;  but  still  the  opinions  which  I  have  expressed  are 
not  the  less  deliberately  formed.  I  have  already  told  you  something  with 
regard  to  French  politeness ;  now  for  the  learning  of  the  French  bar.  I  do 
not  wish  to  pronounce  rashly,  though  I  write  quickly;  but  I  cannot  hesitate 
in  saying  that  the  learning  of  the  profession  is  of  the  most  shallow  kind. 
The  old  fields  beyond  the  time  of  the  code,  out  of  which  so  much  corn  has 
been  gathered,  are  seldom  or  never  entered.  One  French  judge  with  whom 
I  conversed  told  me  that  all  lawyers  who  studied  the  science  of  their  profession 
resorted  to  Dumoulin  and  Cujas;  but  when  I  asked  him  whether  Faber  was 
studied,  —  an  author  whose  works  form  nine  folios  in  our  library,  — he  replied, 
"  Je  ne  connais  pas  cet  auteur."  And  Bravard,  the  successor  of  Pardessus 
as  Professor  of  Commercial  Law,  and  one  of  the  ablest  of  their  writers  and 
professors  (indeed,  the  foremost),  told  me  that  there  were  five-sixths  of  the 
bar  who  had  never  read  a  page  of  Cujas,  Dumoulin,  Domat,  Cochin,  or 
D'Aguesseau;  and  Bravard  added  that  he  didn't  think  it  at  all  useful  to  read 
them:  and  Foelix  told  me  further  that  he  didn't  believe  Bravard  himself 
had  ever  read  a  page  of  them!  So  there  you  have  the  chain  of  ignorance  or 
indifference.  The  code  is  the  vade  mecum,  the  "be-all  and  end-all,"  with 
the  French  avocat;  this  he  possesses  in  a  neat  pocket  edition,  the  different 
codes  designated  by  the  different  color  of  the  leaves,  and  carries  with  him  to 
court.  Among  the  younger  lawyers  whom  I  have  met,  I  have  found  the  great- 
est ignorance  with  respect  even  to  the  modern  authors  of  France.  One  lawyer, 
who  was  introduced  to  me  as  a  young  avocat  of  great  promise,  had  never  heard 
of  the  work  of  Boulay-Paty  on  the  Maritime  Law;  and  another,  whose  library 
I  examined,  had  a  copy  of  Toullier,  of  which  the  leaves  were  yet  uncut. 
Now  I  do  not  give  these  little  straws  as  decisive ;  but  still  they  are  indications 
on  which  you  will  build,  as  well  as  myself.  I  can  assure  you  without  vanity 
(for  between  us  there  is  no  such  thing) ,  that  T  have  several  times  felt  that  my 
acquaintance  with  the  literature  of  French  jurisprudence,  and  with  the  char- 
acter and  merits  of  its  authors,  was  equal  if  not  superior  to  that  of  many 
of  the  Frenchmen  with  whom  I  conversed.  With  them  now  it  is  indeed  Nil 
prceter  edictum  prattoris,  —  the  code  and  nothing  but  the  code.     Ignorant  as 


J£t.  27.]  PAKDESSUS.  293 

they  are  of  their  own  jurisprudence,  it  would  seem  superfluous  to  add  that 
they  know  nothing  of  foreign  jurisprudence,  nothing  of  English  and  Ameri- 
can in  particular.  One  object  of  Foelix's  journal  has  been  to  promote  a 
knowledge  of  the  science  of  the  law,  aud  to  show  its  growth  abroad;  but  his 
journal,  though  enjoying  much  consideration,  has  only  a  small  and  goodly 
company  of  readers. 

You  will  understand  that  I  have  enjoyed  some  advantages  for  finding  out 
the  actual  gauge  and  measure  of  the  French  avocat,  when  you  know  that  I 
have  had  the  friendship  and  confidence  of  Foelix,  who  is  a  Prussian  by  birth, 
and  with  whom  I  can  always  speak  of  the  French  with  perfect  liberty ;  be- 
cause, not  a  Frenchman  born,  he  has  none  of  the  sensitiveness  of  a  native. 
His  residence  in  France,  and  his  acquaintance  with  French  society,  have 
given  him  an  insight  into  the  actual  state  of  things.  I  find  that  we  rarely 
disagree.  I  compare  my  impressions  constantly  with  his  matured  opinions. 
You  may  well  wonder  then,  since  such  are  my  views,  that  I  wish  to  stay 
longer  in  Paris.  But,  after  all  possible  abatement,  the  French  are  a  great 
nation,  with  a  versatility  and  activity  of  intellect  almost  wonderful.  There  is 
no  science  to  which  they  have  not  brought  contributions;  even  the  science 
which  we  cultivate  owes  to  France  a  Pothier,  an  Emerigon,  and  a  Code. 
And  it  is  the  operation  of  this  code  that  I  am  particularly  anxious  to  study. 
You  will  understand  that  this  is  not  an  off-hand  labor ;  it  requires  months  to 
follow  the  different  courts,  and  to  get  any  thing  like  a  precise  idea  of  the 
actual  course  of  things.  With  the  criminal  courts  I  am  considerably  au  cour- 
ant;  with  the  other  courts  much  less,  though  I  have  attended  all.  When  I 
return  home,  I  shall  wish  to  discuss  a  thousand  things  with  you,  and  I  long 
for  the  daily  benefit  of  your  learning  and  judgment.  If  I  find,  then,  that 
my  arrangements  will  permit,  I  shall,  before  my  return  home,  pass  through 
Paris  and  stop  here  yet  longer. 

May  12,  1838. 

I  have  seen  Pardessus  to-day,  —  an  old  gentleman  of  sixty  or  upwards, 
with  thorough  French  politeness.  When  I  left  him  he  made  a  sweeping  bow, 
saying  he  felicitated  himself  upon  the  honor  of  my  visit,  and  then  thanking 
Foelix  for  introducing  me.  He  told  me  that  the  Spanish  "  Code  of  Com- 
merce "  (a  copy  of  which  I  shall  send  home)  is  much  better  than  the  French, 
for  several  reasons :  (1)  because  it  came  after  the  French  Code ;  (2)  because 
they  had  the  benefit  of  his,  Pardessus's,  Commentaries;  and  (3)  because  it 
was  made  by  one  man,  and  not  by  a  commission.  He  told  me  that  his  trans- 
lation of  the  Consolato  del  Mare  was  the  only  one  to  be  relied  on ;  that  Boucher's 
(which  we  have  at  Cambridge)  is  full  of  mistakes ;  that  Boucher  did  not 
understand  Catalan,  and  has  fallen  into  the  worst  blunders.  When  I  asked 
him  how  many  volumes  his  collection  of  sea  laws  would  make,  he  replied: 
"  0  mon  Dieu  !  six  tomes  et  meme plus  que  cela." 

Affectionate  remembrances  to  all  your  family,  and 
As  ever  yours, 

Chas.  Sumner. 


294  MEMOIR  OF   CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1838. 


TO  JUDGE  STORY. 

Paris,  May  14,  1838. 

I  have  just  come  from  that  immense  city  of  the  dead,  Pere  La  Chaise.  I 
have  wandered  round  among  its  countless  monuments ;  have  read  its  charac- 
teristic inscriptions,  and  gazed  on  the  memorials  raised  to  genius,  virtue,  and 
merit.  .  .  .  You  may  ask  then  how  Pere  La  Chaise  compares  with  Mt.  Au- 
burn. I  can  answer  easily.  There  is  an  interest  which  P&re  La  Chaise  pos- 
sesses which  Mt.  Auburn  has  not  yet  acquired,  and  I  hope  long  years  will 
pass  away  before  it  can  assume  this  melancholy  crown.  Everywhere,  in  the 
former,  you  see  the  memorial  which  marks  the  resting-place  of  some  man 
whose  very  name  causes  the  blood  to  course  quickly  through  the  veins.  Your 
eyes  rest  on  the  modest  tomb  of  Talma,  and  then  on  the  more  attractive 
monument  of  Laplace.  .  .  .  And  yet,  as  a  place  of  mourning  to  be  visited  by 
the  pious  steps  of  friends  and  kindred,  give  me  our  Mt.  Auburn,  clad  in  the 
russet  dress  of  Nature,  with  its  simple  memorials  scattered  here  and  there, 
its  beautiful  paths  and  its  overshadowing  groves.  Nature  has  done  as  much 
for  Mt.  Auburn  as  man  has  for  Pere  La  Chaise,  and  I  need  not  tell  you  how 
superior  is  the  workmanship  of  Nature.  -  In  the  French  graveyards  there  is 
an  actual  surfeit  of  gravestones;  the  sense  is  fatigued  by  the  number  of 
monumental  inscriptions.1  .  .  . 

I  am  on  the  point  of  leaving  Paris,  where  I  have  already  passed  several 
months,  and  yet  I  have  just  seen  Pere  La  Chaise  for  the  first  time.  From  this 
fact  you  may  conceive  the  number  of  interesting  and  engrossing  objects  in 
this  wonderful  city.  I  leave  Paris  with  the  liveliest  regret,  and  feeling  very 
much  as  when  I  left  Boston,  —  with  a  thousand  things  undone,  unlearned, 
and  unstudied  which  I  wished  to  do,  to  learn,  and  to  study.  I  start  for  Eng- 
land,—  and  how  my  soul  leaps  at  the  thought!  Land  of  my  studies,  my 
thoughts,  and  my  dreams!  There,  indeed,  shall  I  "  pluck  the  life  of  life." 
Much  have  I  enjoyed  and  learned  at  Paris,  but  my  course  has  been  constantly 
impeded  by  the  necessity  of  unremitted  study.  The  language  was  foreign, 
as  were  the  manners,  institutions,  and  laws.  I  have  been  a  learner  daily;  I 
could  understand  nothing  without  study.  But  in  England  every  thing  will 
be  otherwise.  The  page  of  English  history  is  a  familiar  story;  the  English 
law  has  been  my  devoted  pursuit  for  years,  English  politics  my  pastime,  and 
the  English  language  is  my  own.  I  shall  then  at  once  leap  to  the  full  enjoy- 
ment of  all  the  mighty  interests  which  England  affords ;  and  I  shall  be  able 
to  mingle  at  once  with  its  society,  catch  its  tone,  and  join  in  its  conversation, 
attend  the  courts,  and  follow  all  their  proceedings  as  those  at  home.  Here 
then  is  a  pleasure  which  is  great  almost  beyond  comparison,  —  greater  to  my 
mind  than  any  thing  else  on  earth,  except  the  consciousness  of  doing  good ; 
greater  than  wealth  and  all  the  enjoyments  which  it  brings.  In  England  I 
shall  find  a  vacation,  — the  first  I  have  had  for  years.  And  yet,  there  I  must 
keep  up  my  study  of  French  and  German ;  and  I  propose  to  devote  the  early 
part  of  my  mornings  to  these  languages. 

1  A  detailed  account  of  the  approach  to  the  cemetery  and  of  its  monuments  is  omitted. 


JEt.  27.1  LEAVING  PARIS.  295 

May  21. 

Still  in  Paris,  and  still  longing  to  stay  here.  I  have  promised  many 
persons  that  I  will  return,  and  I  must  return.  I  find  myself  on  a  track 
which  no  American,  perhaps  no  Englishman,  has  ever  followed.  I  wish  to 
master  the  judicial  institutions  of  this  great  country ;  and  for  this  purpose  to 
talk  with  the  most  eminent  judges,  lawyers,  and  professors,  and  to  get  their 
views  upon  the  actual  operation  of  things.  How  I  shall  use  the  materials  I 
may  collect  remains  to  be  seen,  — whether  in  a  work  presenting  a  comparative 
view  of  the  judicial  institutions  of  France,  England,  and  America,  particularly 
with  a  view  to  the  theory  of  proofs  and  the  initiation  of  causes,  I  cannot  tell; 
but  certainly  there  is  a  vast  amount  of  invaluable  information  which  I  may 
harvest  in  future  years.  In  collecting  this  information,  I  see  before  me  the 
clear  way  of  doing  good  and  gratifying  a  just  desire  for  reputation.  You  will 
understand  me  when  I  write  as  I  do,  my  dear  Judge.  And  here  let  me  con- 
gratulate myself  upon  your  friendship,  and  the  influence  it  has  ever  had  upon 
me  to  make  me  cultivate  science  rather  than  practice. 

Much  joy  do  I  find  in  my  present  exile  in  the  acquaintances  I  have  been 
able  to  make;  but  still  I  send  my  thoughts  back  to  home  and  the  quiet 
talks  in  which  I  have  so  often  indulged  with  my  friends.  I  think  every  day 
—  ay,  every  hour  —  of  ancient  scenes,  and  I  long  to  be  able  to  unbosom  my- 
self to  well-familiar  hearts. 

I  cannot  conclude  without  alluding  to  a  very  remarkable  conversation 
which  I  had  with  Cousin  yesterday,  particularly  about  philosophy  in  America. 
He  takes  a  deep  and  I  believe  sincere  interest  in  it,  and  is  very  anxious  with 
regard  to  the  professorship  at  Cambridge.  He  has  read  some  productions  of 
Mr.  Brownson,  whom  he  thinks  one  of  the  most  remarkable  persons  of  the 
age,  and  wishes  to  see  placed  where  he  can  pursue  philosophy  calmly,  think- 
ing his  labors  will  redound  to  the  advance  of  science  throughout  the  globe. 

Give  one  look  at  old  Cambridge  for  me ;  remember  me  affectionately  as 
ever  to  your  family.  I  hope  to  find  news  of  you  on  my  arrival  in  London, 
and  to  hear  of  Mrs.  Story  restored  in  health  and  spirits  and  again  the  life  of 
your  fireside.  My  next  will  salute  you  from  England.  I  can  imagine  that 
you  thrill  with  me  at  the  thought  of  that  jewel  of  the  sea.  Farewell. 
As  ever  affectionately  yours, 

Chas.  Sumner. 


TO  REV.  DR.  WILLIAM  E.  CHANNING,  BOSTON. 

Paris,  May  21,  1838. 

My  dear  Sir,  —  One  of  the  last  times  that  I  had  the  pleasure  of  con- 
versing with  you,  we  spoke  of  Jouffroy  and  Lerminier,  two  French  writers 
now  among  the  most  conspicuous  on  philosophical  subjects.  I  have  heard 
them  both  very  often, — the  former  at  the  Sorbonne,  and  the  latter  at  the 
College  Royale  de  France ;  and  I  have  thought  that  I  could  not  better  redeem 
my  promise  to  you  than  to  present  a  hasty  sketch  of  them.    As  you  enter  the 


296  MEMOIR   OF  CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1838 

lecture  room  of  Jouffroy,  you  find  it  crowded  with  young  and  old,  who  appear 
to  be  watching  eagerly  for  the  appearance  of  the  lecturer.  .  .  .  He  has  been 
considering  psychology  this  winter,  and  presented  in  one  of  his  lectures  a 
beautiful  tableau  of  the  principal  faculties,  capacities,  and  susceptibilities  of 
the  human  mind.  I  fear  that  he  will  be  lost  to  philosophy  and  the  Sorbonne, 
for  he  is  already  a  deputy,  and  this  winter  delivered,  according  to  my  judg- 
ment, one  of  the  best  speeches  of  the  season.  He  is  so  ill  that  he  has  been 
obliged  to  drop  a  portion  of  his  course;  A  French  gentleman  shrewdly 
remarked  to  me  that  he  was  ill  for  his  cours,  but  not  for  the  Chamber  of 
Deputies;  his  friend  Cousin,  however,  told  me  that  he  was  verily  ill.  His 
lectures  are  facile  princeps  among  all  that  I  have  heard  in  France,  and  I  have 
heard  many.  I  look  back  upon  them  with  great  pleasure.  I  think,  however, 
that  I  place  a  higher  estimate  on  all  his  labors  than  is  generally  placed 
here.1  .  .  . 

De  Gerando  has  inquired  with  great  friendship  after  you,  and  requested 
me  to  apologize  to  you  for  his  long  silence.  Sismondi  is  now  in  Paris  to 
superintend  the  publication  of  a  work  on  political  economy.  He  requested 
to  be  kindly  remembered  to  you.  In  Paris  I  have  met  a  Mr.  Gibbs,  of  South 
Carolina,  a  resident  here  for  some  years.  He  is  a  slaveholder,  and  yet  is 
against  slavery,  and  believes  it  can  be  and  ought  to  be  abolished.  I  have 
conversed  with  him,  and  found  him  full  of  philanthropic  views.  He  informs 
me  that  some  time  since  he  sent  a  letter  to  America  for  publication,  —  I 
think  in  the  New  York  "  American,"  — signed  a  "  Slaveholder,"  and  point- 
ing out  a  way  in  which  slavery  might  be  abolished.  Let  me  invite  your 
attention  to  this  production,  if  you  meet  with  it :  I  have  not  seen  it  myself. 
Allow  me  to  be  remembered  to  your  family,  and  believe  me 
Your  faithful  friend, 

Chas.  Sumner. 


Sumner,  in  his  later  writings  and  addresses,  referred  to  his 
visit  to  Paris,  as  also  to  his  subsequent  visit  to  Germany.  In 
his  tribute  to  Judge  Story,  of  Sept.  16,  1845,  he  said :  — 

"  It  has  been  my  fortune  to  know  the  chief  jurists  of  our  time  in  the  clas- 
sical countries  of  jurisprudence,  —  France  and  Germany.  I  remember  well  the 
pointed  and  effective  style  of  Dupin,  in  one  of  his  masterly  arguments  before 
the  highest  court  of  France;  I  recall  the  pleasant  converse  of  Pardessus,  to 
whom  commercial  and  maritime  law  is  under  a  larger  debt,  perhaps,  than 
to  any  other  mind,  while  he  descanted  on  his  favorite  theme;  I  wander  in 
fancy  to  the  gentle  presence  of  him  with  flowing  silver  locks  who  was  so  dear 
to  Germany,  —  Thibaut,  the  expounder  of  Roman  law,  and  the  earnest  and 
successful  advocate  of  a  just  scheme  for  the  reduction  of  the  unwritten  law 
to  the  certainty  of  a  written  text;  from  Heidelberg  I  pass  to  Berlin,  where  I 

1  Descriptions  of  Jouffroy  and  Lerminier,  already  given  in  the  Journal,  are  omitted. 


^Ex.  27.]         FOREIGN  STUDIES  RECALLED.  297 

listen  to  the  grave  lecture  and  mingle  in  the  social  circle  of  Savigny,  so  stately 
in  person  and  peculiar  in  countenance,  whom  all  the  Continent  of  Europe 
delights  to  honor:  but  my  heart  and  my  judgment,  untravelled,  fondly  turn 
with  new  love  and  admiration  to  my  Cambridge  teacher  and  friend.  Juris- 
prudence has  many  arrows  in  her  quiver,  but  where  is  one  to  compare  with 
that  which  is  now  spent  in  the  earth?  "  1 

In  his  argument  before  the  Supreme  Court  of  Massachusetts 
against  the  constitutionality  of  separate  schools  for  colored  chil- 
dren, Dec.  4,  1849,  he  said :  — 

"  And  let  me  add,  if  I  may  refer  to  my  own  experience,  that  at  the  School 
of  Law  in  Paris  I  have  sat  for  weeks  on  the  same  benches  with  colored  pupils, 
listening,  like  myself,  to  the  learned  lectures  of  De  Gerando  and  Rossi;  nor 
do  I  remember,  in  the  throng  of  sensitive  young  men,  any  feeling  toward 
them  except  of  companionship  and  respect."  2 

During  his  last  few  weeks  in  Paris,  he  endeavored  to  promote 
the  election  of  Judge  Story  as  a  member  of  the  French  Institute, 
and  for  that  purpose  prepared  in  French  a  memoir  of  the  judge's 
career  and  writings,  which  he  delivered  to  Mr.  Warden,  already 
a  member. 

Sumner  left  Paris  for  London,  May  29,  having  remained  nearly 
two  months  longer  than  he  had  intended  before  leaving  home. 
As  he  himself  states,  in  his  letters  and  Journal,  he  left  much 
unseen,  and  regretted  that  he  could  not  prolong  his  sojourn,  par- 
ticularly with  the  view  of  conversing  with  eminent  French  ju- 
rists. He  had,  however,  accomplished  what  he  most  desired, 
—  he  was  able  to  speak  the  French  language,  and  through  it  to 
come  into  personal  relations  with  educated  Europeans  of  what- 
ever country. 

l  Works,  Vol.  I.  p.  144. 
a  Works,  Vol.  II.  p.  375. 


298  MEMOIR  OF  CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1838-39 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

ENGLAND.— JUNE,  1838,  TO  MARCH,  1839.— AGE,  27-28. 

SUMNER  arrived  in  London  on  the  evening  of  May  31, 
and  remained  in  England  nearly  ten  months.  He  came 
by  the  way  of  the  Thames,  and  was  a  guest  temporarily  at  the 
Tavistock  Inn,1  Covent  Garden.  He  soon  took  permanent 
lodgings  at  2  Vigo  Street,  near  Charing  Cross  and  the  Strand, 
and  within  ten  minutes'  walk  of  Westminster  Hall  and  the 
Abbey.  Leaving  cards  with  Earl  Fitzwilliam,  John  Stuart 
Wortley,  and  Mr.  Justice  Yaughan,  he  soon  found  himself  em- 
barrassed by  conflicting  invitations,  and  his  time  taken  up  by 
society.  He  was  admitted  as  a  foreign  visitor,  —  a  qualified 
membership,  —  to  four  clubs ; 2  the  Garrick,  Alfred,  Travellers', 
and  Athenaeum.  He  was  present  in  court  dress  at  the  corona- 
tion of  Queen  Victoria  in  the  Abbey,  receiving  the  courtesy 
of  two  tickets,  —  one  from  Lord  Lansdowne,  and  the  other 
from  Sir  Charles  Vaughan.  He  attended  the  sessions  of  the 
courts  and  the  debates  in  Parliament,  reserving  till  the  London 
season  was  over  the  remarkable  sights,  —  the  Tower,  Tunnel, 
British  Museum,  and  Abbey.  He  sat  on  the  bench  at  West- 
minster Hall,  and  dined  with  the  judges  at  the  Old  Bailey, 
where  he  spoke  at  the  call  of  the  Lord  Mayor.  Following  the 
plan  of  his  journey,  he  observed  with  the  keenest  interest  "  men, 
society,  courts,  and  parliament." 

Having  been  invited  to  many  country-seats,  he  was  well  pro- 
vided with  facilities  for  visiting  different  parts  of  England,  as 
also  of  Scotland  and   Ireland.      He  left  London,  July  24,  to 

1  Recommended  by  his  Scotch  friend,  Brown,  and  by  John  Wilks.  The  latter,  an 
active  writer  in  his  day,  seems  to  have  been  much  attracted  to  Sumner;  and  at  Paris  they 
were  often  together.  Wilks  bade  Sumner  good-by,  as  he  left  for  London,  in  a  note  closing 
thus :  "  So  now  a  pleasant  voyage  to  you  ;  for  you  are  a  right  good  sample  of  a  thoroughly 
good-hearted,  hard-headed,  able,  well-informed  American."  Wilks  soon  after  returned  to 
London,  where  he  became  editor  of  the  "  Church  and  State  Gazette,"  and  died  in  1844  or 
1845.  He  was  the  grandson  of  a  Methodist  clergyman,  and  son  of  John  Wilks,  of  Finsbury 
Square,  M.  P.  for  Boston. 

2  To  the  Garrick  through  Brown,  and  the  Travellers'  through  Sergeant  D'Oyly. 


JEt.  27-28.]  THE  CIRCUITS.  299 

attend,  by  invitation  of  the  judges,  the  circuits,  and  to  visit 
places  of  interest  on  the  way.  His  route  was  from  London  to 
Guilford,  where  Lord  Denman  was  holding  the  Home  Circuit, 
Winchester,  Salisbury,  Exeter,  and  Bodmin  in  Cornwall,  where 
the  Western  Circuit  was  then  in  session,  and  where,  with  Wilde 
and  Follett,  he  was  the  guest  of  the  bar ;  then  to  Plymouth  in 
the  carriage  of  Crowder,  Queen's  counsel,  afterwards  judge ;  to 
Combe  Florey,  where  he  was  for  two  days  the  guest  of  Sydney 
Smith ;  to  Wells,  where  he  met  the  Western  Circuit  again,  Bris- 
tol and  Cheltenham ;  to  Chester,  where  Mr.  Justice  Vaughan, 
then  holding  court,  called  him  to  his  side  upon  the  bench ;  and 
reaching  Liverpool  Aug.  11,  during  the  session  of  the  Northern 
Circuit,  where  he  met  with  the  same  courtesy  from  Baron  Alder- 
son.  He  dined  with  the  bar  and  the  court,  and  responded  to 
toasts  at  Bodmin,  and  more  at  length  at  Liverpool.  To  Judge 
Story  he  wrote,  Aug.  18  :  "  Never  did  I  enjoy  so  much  happiness 
as  has  been  my  lot  within  the  last  few  weeks.  I  have  had  a 
constant  succession  of  kindnesses  and  attentions  of  the  most 
gratifying  character."  To  Mr.  Daveis  he  wrote,  Sept.  2 :  "At 
times  I  was  honored  with  a  seat  on  the  bench  by  the  side  of 
the  judge,  and  at  times  I  mingled  with  the  barristers.  I  have 
made  myself  master  of  English  practice  and  English  circuit-life. 
I  cannot  sufficiently  express  my  admiration  of  the  heartiness  and 
cordiality  which  pervade  all  the  English  bar.  They  are  truly  a 
band  of  brothers,  and  I  have  been  received  among  them  as  one 
of  them." 

Leaving  Liverpool,  he  visited  Robert  Ingham,  M.  P.  for  South 
Shields,  at  his  residence,  Westoe  Hall,  near  the  mouth  of  the 
Tyne.  Late  in  August,  he  was  present  at  the  annual  session  of  the 
"  British  Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Science,"  and  was 
called  up  at  the  dinner  by  the  Bishop  of  Durham,  Dr.  Maltby. 
Then  followed  visits  to  the  bishop  at  Auckland  Castle ;  to  George 
H.  Wilkinson,  the  Recorder  of  Newcastle,  at  Harperley  Park, 
with  a  view  of  Brancepeth  Castle  on  the  way  to  Harperley,  and 
of  Raby  Castle 1  while  at  Harperley ;  to  Christopher  Blackett, 
M.  P.,  at  Oakwood ;  to  Archdeacon  Scott,  with  whom  he  played 
the  sportsman  for  the  first  time  since  his  college  vacations  ;  to  Lord 
Brougham  at  Brougham  Hall,  and  John  Marshall  at  Hallsteads, 
on  Ulleswater  Lake.    He  enjoyed  greatly  some  hours  with  Words- 

1  Wytton  and  Ravensworth  castles  were  visited  about  this  time. 


300  MEMOIR  OF   CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1838-39. 

worth,  at  Rydal  Mount ;  but  missed  Southey,  then  absent  on  the 
Continent.  From  Keswick  he  went  to  Penrith,  where  he  was 
for  a  day  with  Sir  George  Back,  the  Arctic  voyager.  Passing 
into  Scotland,  he  was  at  Melrose  the  guest  of  Sir  David  Brews- 
ter. Here  he  conversed  with  companions  of  Sir  Walter  Scott, 
and  made  an  excursion  to  Abbotsford.  He  was  in  Edinburgh 
nine  days,  meeting  some  of  its  most  famous  men ;  dining  with 
Sir  William  Hamilton  and  Sir  John  Robison,  Secretary  of  the 
Royal  Society,  enjoying  the  society  of  Jeffrey,  who  was  assidu- 
ous in  attentions,  and  entertained  by  Sir  James  Gibson  Craig  at 
Riccarton  House.  Next  he  visited  his  friend  Brown  at  Lanflre 
House,  Kilmarnock,  and  joined  in  the  rude  festivities  of  a  High- 
land wedding.  While  lodging  at  an  inn  at  Dumbarton,  he 
passed  a  day  with  Talfourd,  then  living  in  a  cottage  near  by. 
He  was  the  guest  of  John  A.  Murray,  the  Lord  Advocate,  at 
Strachur  Park,  near  Inverary.  He  visited  Stirling  and  Glas- 
gow, and  crossed  to  Dublin,  where  he  was  welcomed  by  Lord 
Morpeth,  then  Chief  Secretary  of  Ireland,  and  received  civili- 
ties from  Thomas  Lefroy,  M.  P.  for  the  University.1  Return- 
ing to  England,  he  passed  the  rest  of  October  at  Wortley  Hall 
(Lord  WharnclinVs),  Fairfield  Lodge  near  York  (Mr.  Thomp- 
son's), Holkham  Hall  in  Norfolk  (Earl  Leicester's),  with  visits 
to  Hull,  Boston,  and  Lynn  on  his  route  from  York  to  Holk- 
ham. He  arrived  in  London  early  in  the  morning  of  Nov.  4, 
after  an  absence  of  nearly  three  months  and  a  half.  Among 
many  expressions  of  satisfaction  with  his  journey  is  the  fol- 
lowing, written  to  Dr.  Lieber,  Nov.  16 :  — 

"  I  arrived  in  town  ten  days  ago,  after  a  most  delightful  and  thrilling 
journey  through  various  parts  of  England,  Scotland,  and  Ireland.  I  have 
been  received  with  a  kindness,  hospitality,  and  distinction  of  which  I  truly 
felt  my  un worthiness.  I  have  visited  many  —  perhaps  I  may  say  most  — 
of  the  distinguished  men  of  these  glorious  countries  at  their  seats,  and 
have  seen  English  country  life,  which  is  the  height  of  refined  luxury,  in 
some  of  its  most  splendid  phases.  For  all  the  opportunities  I  have  had  I 
feel  grateful." 

He  remained  in  London  till  March  21,  —  four  months  and  a 
half,  —  making  three  brief  excursions ;  one  in  December  to  Ox- 
ford,2 where  he  lodged  at  All  Souls  as  the  guest  of  Sir  Charles 

1  The  record  of  this  part  of  his  journey  is  not  complete,  none  of  his  letters  between  Oct.  7 
and  Oct.  24  being  preserved,  except  a  brief  one  to  his  sister  Mary,  written  Oct.  14. 

2  He  was  accompanied  by  Robert  Ingham,  Sir  Gregory  Lewin,  and  John  Stuart  Wortley 


^t.  27-28.]  SOCIAL  CAREER.  301 

Vaughan,  then  in  residence  at  the  college  ;  another,  later  in  the 
same  month,  to  Cambridge,  where  the  attentions  of  Professor 
Whewell  awaited  him,  and  to  Milton  Park,  where  he  shared 
in  the  festivities  of  Christmas  with  Earl  Fitzwilliam,  and  joined 
with  his  son,  Lord  Milton,  the  present  earl,  in  a  fox-hunt ;  and 
the  third,  in  January,  to  Strat  ford-on- A  von,  and  Warwick  and 
Ken il worth  castles.  He  attended  the  Lord  Mayor's  dinner  at 
Guildhall,  and  responded  to  a  toast ;  was  present  at  the  opening 
of  Parliament,  and  heard  the  young  Queen's  speech ;  and  passed 
a  day  at  Windsor  Castle,  by  the  invitation  of  one  of  the  lords- 
in-waiting. 

While  in  London,  or  journeying  in  other  parts  of  the  British 
Islands,  he  mingled  with  the  best  society.  His  associations  were 
not  confined  to  any  one  set,  but  embraced  persons  widely  diver- 
gent in  professional  callings,  politics,  tone  of  thought,  and  rank, 
—  judges,  lawyers,  and  divines ;  scholars  eminent  in  literature, 
metaphysics,  and  science;  titled  persons  who  combined  good 
breeding  and  intelligence ;  statesmen,  Whig,  Tory,  and  Radical, 
some  of  whom  were  aged,  and  full  of  reminiscences  of  great 
orators  ;  women,  whose  learning,  cleverness,  or  grace  enriched 
the  thought  and  embellished  the  society  of  their  day.  He  was 
received  as  a  guest,  sometimes  with  the  familiarity  of  a  kins- 
man, into  the  houses  of  Denman,  Vaughan,  Parke,  Alderson, 
Langdale,  and  Coltman,  among  judges ;  of  Follett,  Rolfe  (Lord 
Cran worth),  Wilde,  Crowder,  Lushington,  and  D'Oyly,  among 
lawyers ;  of  Hayward,  Adolphus,  Clark,  Bingham,  Wills,  Theo- 
bald, Starkie,  and  Professor  Bell,  among  law-writers  and  report- 
ers ;  of  Hallam,  Parkes,  Senior,  Grote,  Jeffrey,  Murray,  Carlyle, 
Rogers,  Talfourd,  Whewell,  and  Babbage,  among  men  of  learning, 
culture,  and  science;  of  Maltby,  Milman,  and  Sydney  Smith, 
among  divines ;  of  Robert  Ingham,  John  Kenyon,  Monckton 
Milnes  (Lord  Houghton),  Basil  Montagu,  and  Charles  Vaughan, 
among  genial  friends  who  wrote  or  loved  good  books  ;  of  Broug- 
ham, Durham,  Inglis,  Cornewall  Lewis,  Campbell,  Labouchere, 
Hume,  and  Roebuck,  among  statesmen  and  parliamentary  chiefs ; x 
of  Fitzwilliam,  Lansdowne,  Wharncliffe  (and  his  son,  John  Stuart 
Wortley),  Leicester,  Holland,  Carlisle  (and  his  son,  Lord  Mor- 
peth), among  noblemen.     He  met  on  a  familiar  footing  Charles 

1  At  Joseph  Parkes's  he  met  Richard  Cohden,  who  was  not  as  yet  a  member  of 
Parliament. 


802  MEMOIR  OF   CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1838-39. 

Austin,  Macaulay,  Landor,  Leigh  Hunt,  Thomas  Campbell,  and 
Theodore  Hook.  He  talked  with  Wordsworth  at  his  home,  and 
looked  with  him  on  the  landscapes  which  had  inspired  his 
verse.  Among  women  to  whose  society  he  was  admitted  were 
the  Duchess  of  Sutherland,  Mrs.  Montagu,  Joanna  Baillie,  Mrs. 
Jameson,  Mrs.  Sarah  Austin,  Miss  Martineau,  Mrs.  Shelley, 
Mrs.  Marcet,  Mrs.  Grote,  Lady  Morgan,  Mrs.  Norton,  and  Lady 
Blessington.  With  some  of  these  persons  the  acquaintance  was 
only  temporary;  with  others  there  followed  a  correspondence 
more  or  less  frequent,  and  a  renewal  of  intercourse  in  later  vis- 
its to  Europe  :  and  there  were  those,  like  Lord  Morpeth,  Rob- 
ert Ingham,  Joseph  Parkes,  and  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Montagu,  with 
whom  a  lifelong  friendship  was  established. 

The  persons  already  named  are  referred  to  more  or  less  fre- 
quently in  his  letters.  There  were  many  others  not  mentioned 
in  them  with  whom  he  had  more  or  less  association,  and  from 
whom  he  received  hospitality  or  civilities.1 

Sumner's  acquaintance  with  English  society  was  wider  and  more 
\  various  than  any  previously  enjoyed  by  an  American,  and  even  ex- 
\  ceeded  that  of  most  Englishmen.    The  remarkable  favor  which  he 
i  everywhere  met  was  noted  at  the  time,  and  is  still  remembered, 
\by  those  who  witnessed  it.      It  was  said  of  him,  that  "when 
'an  American  gentleman,  the  gifted  Charles  Sumner,  was  in  Eng- 
land, his1  popularity  in  society  became  justly  so  great  and  so  gen- 
eral, that  his  friends  began  to  devise  what  circle  there  was  to 
show  him  which  he  had  not  yet  seen,  what  great  house  that  he 
had  not  yet  visited."2     A  few  months  after  his  return  home, 
Mr.  Hayward  referred  to  him  in  the  "  Quarterly  Review,"  3  as 
the  reporter  of  Judge  Story's  decisions,  "  who  recently  paid  a  visit 

1  Some  of  these  are  the  following:  George  Peabody,  American  banker,  1795-1869. 
W.  Empson,  son-in-law  of  Lord  Jeffrey  (Hertford).  Thomas  Longman,  Jr.  (2  Hanover 
Terrace,  Regent's  Park).  Arthur  J.  Johnes,  of  Lincoln's  Inn  (4  South  Bank,  Alpha  Road). 
Petty  Vaughan  (1788-1854),  son  of  Benjamin  Vaughan,  of  Hallowell,  Me.  (70  Fenchurch 
Street).  Sir  George  Rose  (Hyde  Park  Gardens).  Robert  Alexander  (13  Duke  Street,  West- 
minster). J.  N.  Simpkinson  (21  Bedford  Place,  Russell  Square).  J.  Guillemard  (27  Gower 
Street).  Graham  Willsmore,  of  Plowden  Buildings  Temple  (1  Endsleigh  Street,  Tavistock 
Square).  John  Washington,  of  the  Royal  Geographical  Society.  John  P.  Parker,  Secre- 
tary of  the  Temperance  Society  (Aldine  Chambers,  Paternoster  Row).  Frederick  Foster, 
whom  Sumner  met  at  Wortley  Hall.  Alexander  Baillie  Cochrane  (4  Burlington  Gardens). 
Lady  Mary  Shepherd. 

2  Autobiography,  Memoir,  and  Letters  of  Henry  Fothergill  Chorley,  Vol.  I.  p.  180- 

8  Dec,  1840,  Vol.  LXVII.  pp  33,  34.  Article  on  "  American  Orators  and  Statesmen." 
This  reference  to  Sumner  was  copied  by  the  "  Law  Reporter  "  in  a  notice  of  the  third  volume 
of  his  Reports.    Feb.,  1841,  Vol.  III.  p.  403. 


^Et.  27-28.]  INTRODUCTIONS.  303 

of  some  duration  to  this  country,  and  presents  in  his  own  person 
a  decisive  proof  that  an  American  gentleman,  without  official 
rank  or  widespread  reputation,  by  mere  dint  of  courtesy,  candor, 
an  entire  absence  of  pretension,  an  appreciating  spirit,  and  a  cul- 
tivated mind,  may  be  received  on  a  perfect  footing  of  equality  in 
the  best  English  circles,  social,  political,  and  intellectual ;  which, 
be  it  observed,  are  hopelessly  inaccessible  to  the  itineiant  note- 
taker,  who  never  gets  beyond  the  outskirts  or  the  show-houses." 

His  letters  of  introduction  opened  to  him  his  opportunity ;  but 
that  was  all.  The  greater  number  of  those  which  he  took  with 
him  he  withheld.  A  letter  of  introduction,  given  with  due  au- 
thority, usually  entitles  the  bearer  to  an  invitation  to  dine,  or  to 
some  similar  courtesy ;  but  its  function  is  then  exhausted.  If 
he  cannot  contribute  his  part  to  the  circle  to  which  he  has  been 
admitted,  his  career  will  be  short-lived.  This  is  true  of  the  best 
society  everywhere ;  and  it  is  most  true  of  English  society. 

Sumner  abstained  from  seeking  introductions,  and  awaited 
the  advances  of  others.  The  persons  whom  he  first  met  were 
pleased  with  him,  and  their  good  words  soon  gave  him  cur- 
rency in  London  society.  In  many  instances  he  bore  no  Ameri- 
can letters  to  those  with  whom  he  became  most  intimate.  At 
a  dinner  or  party  he  met  other  guests,  who,  attracted  by  his 
manners  and  character,  invited  him  to  visit  at  their  houses.  In 
this  way,  English  society  in  different  directions  was  opened  to 
him.  The  Attorney-General,  afterwards  Lord  Campbell,  intro- 
duced him  to  Dr.  Lushington.  Through  Joseph  Parkes  he  was 
brought  into  relations  with  Lord  Brougham,  the  Montagus,  and 
Roebuck.  Robert  Ingham,  who  conceived  a  strong  affection  for 
him,  met  him  at  the  Judges'  dinner  at  Liverpool.  Sydney  Smith 
commended  him  to  Baron  Alderson  ;  the  baron  introduced  him 
to  the  Bishop  of  Durham ;  and  at  the  bishop's  he  met  Sir  David 
Brewster,  who  invited  him  to  Melrose. 

To  Hillard  he  wrote,  Dec.  4,  1838 :  — 

"  The  acquaintance  which  I  have  made,  various  and  extensive,  has  been 
volunteered  to  me.  It  has  grown  out  of  casual  meetings  in  society,  and  has 
been  extended  in  a  spirit  of  kindness  and  hospitality  which  makes  my  heart 
overflow  as  I  think  of  it.  I  now  hardly  call  to  mind  a  person  in  England 
that  I  cared  to  see  whom  I  have  not  met  under  circumstances  the  most  agree- 
able and  flattering  to  myself."  1 

1  Sumner's  fancy  for  collecting  autographs  was  developed  at  this  period.  He  was  sup- 
plied with  many  by  Kenyon,  Morpeth,  Sir  David  Brewster,  Hay  ward,  Talfourd,  Brown,  Miss 


304  MEMOIR  OF  CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1838-39. 

Sumner's  success  in  English  society  was  due  to  the  same 
characteristics  which  had  secured  for  him  at  home  strongly 
attached  friends,  as  well  among  his  seniors  as  among  persons 
of  his  own  age.  He  had  the  genuineness  and  enthusiasm  which 
always  charm,  alike  in  the  oldest  and  the  newest  society.  His 
rare  intelligence  on  all  topics  most  interesting  to  Englishmen,  — 
their  history,  politics,  law,  and  literature,  and  the  personal  life 
of  their  authors  and  public  men,  —  was  doubtless  an  advantage  to 
him.  If  he  was  wanting  in  the  wit  and  brilliancy  which  sparkled 
in  the  conversation  of  some  of  the  eminent  writers  who  then  min- 
gled in  London  society,  he  everywhere  won  favor  by  his  thought- 
ful spirit,  his  fulness  of  knowledge,  his  amiable  disposition,  and 
the  catholic  temper  with  which  he  observed  foreign  customs  and 
institutions.  Of  the  large  number  of  persons  whom  he  then  met 
in  a  familiar  way,  generally  older  than  himself,  most  have  died, 
—  including  his  dearest  friends  Morpeth,  Ingham,  Parkes,  and 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Montagu.  The  few  who  survive  have,  in  most 
instances,  contributed  for  this  memoir  their  recollections  of  him, 
still  vivid  after  an  interval  of  nearly  forty  years.  Their  testi- 
mony accords  with  that  of  those  who  knew  him  as  a  student  and 
in  the  early  years  of  his  manhood. 

Hon.  James  Stuart  Wortley  writes :  — 

"  I  have  great  pleasure  in  responding  to  your  appeal  for  information,  for 
I  have  a  lively  recollection  of  the  early  visits  of  Mr.  Sumner  to  my  father 
and  his  family,  both  at  Wortley  Hall  in  Yorkshire  and  afterwards  in  London, 
where  he  was  a  frequent  and  much  valued  guest.  I  was  then  in  the  early 
years  of  my  practice  at  the  bar,  and  I  well  remember  the  pride  I  felt  in 
introducing  your  amiable  and  cultivated  countryman  to  the  leaders  of  the 
Northern  Circuit,  and  taking  him  to  a  seat  among  the  barristers  in  court 
when  he  joined  us  at  York,  to  observe  the  procedure  and  practice  of  our 
courts.  He  was  also  invited  to  the  bar  mess ;  and,  in  the  several  times  that 
he  dined  with  our  body,  he  won  golden  opinions  by  his  most  amiable  man- 
ners and  abundant  resources  of  conversation.  Both  there  and  in  private 
society  he  was  always  genial,  though  modest ;  and  all  that  fell  from  him  was 
agreeable  and  intellectual,  and  often  instructive. 

"Mr.  Sumner  was  introduced  to  my  father's  house  by  my, dear  brother 
John,  who  was  four  years  older  than  myself,  and  who,  having  succeeded  my 
father  in  his  title  and  estates,  unhappily  died  some  years  ago,  at  a  compara- 
tively early  age.     You  are  right  in  supposing  that  my  brother  was  one  of  a 

Martineau,  and  the  Montagus.  These,  together  with  others,  some  rare  and  costly,  which 
he  purchased  late  in  life,  and  notes  written  to  himself  by  distinguished  persons,  he  be- 
queathed to  Harvard  College.  Kenyon  gave  him  those  of  Southey,  Faraday,  Landor,  Miss 
Mitford,  Coleridge,  Malthus,  and  Thomas  Campbell. 


Mt.  27-28.1     ENGLISH  ESTIMATE   OF  HIS   CHARACTER.  305 

small  band  who  visited  the  States  in  1824-25;  consisting  besides  himself  of  the 
late  Prime-Minister,  Lord  Derby  (then  Mr.  Stanley),  Mr.  Labouchere,  who 
was  afterwards  a  member  of  Lord  Melbourne's  cabinet  and  died  as  Lord 
Taunton,  as  well  as  Mr.  Evelyn  Denison,  who  eventually  became  Speaker  of 
the  House  of  Commons,  and  died  only  two  or  three  years  ago  in  retirement 
as  Lord  Ossington.  They  were,  in  fact,  the  pioneers  of  the  class  to  which 
they  belonged;  and,  being  all  known  as  members  of  the  British  House  of 
Commons  of  more  or  less  distinction,  were  received  by  your  countrymen  with 
even  more  than  their  wonted  courtesy  and  hospitality :  and  their  example  led 
to  the  more  frequent  and  happy  intercourse  of  our  public  men  with  those  of 
the  United  States. 

"  I  wish  I  was  able  to  give  you  more  ample  reminiscences  of  the  interest- 
ing subject  of  your  inquiries;  but,  in  the  mean  time,  I  beg  you  to  be  assured 
that  it  is  a  most  interesting  pleasure  to  our  family  if  we  are  able  to  contribute 
any  thing  of  value  to  the  record  of  a  life  so  distinguished  as  that  of  Senator 
Sumner." 

Mr.  Henry  Reeve  writes  :  — 

"  It  will  give  me  sincere  pleasure  to  assist  you  in  preserving  any  recollec- 
tions of  my  old  friend  Charles  Sumner,  for  whom  I  entertained  the  greatest 
regard.  I  cannot  remember  how  our  acquaintance  began,  but  I  presume  that 
it  was  in  1838;  very  likely  it  was  at  the  house  of  Baron  Parke  (afterwards 
Lord  Wensleydale) ,  with  whom  he  was  a  great  favorite.  His  legal  attain- 
ments, his  scholarship,  his  extensive  knowledge  of  English  literature,  his 
genial  and  unaffected  manners,  but  above  all  the  enthusiasm  and  simplicity 
of  his  character,  opened  to  him  at  once  not  only  the  doors  but  the  hearts  of  a 
large  circle  of  persons  eminent  in  this  country.  I  think  I  still  hear  him  re- 
peating a  passage  of  Burke,  or  engaging  in  debate  on  some  nice  question  of 
international  law.  English  society  was  flattered  and  gratified  by  the  strong 
regard  he  showed  for  the  leading  members  of  what  was  then  one  of  the  most 
intellectual  and  cultivated  bodies  of  men  in  Europe ;  and  he  was  not  insensi- 
ble to  the  attentions  which  were  paid  to  him.  .  .  . 

"At  the  bottom  of  his  heart,  I  believe  Charles  Sumner  loved  the  old 
country  next  best  after  his  own. 

Bat  to  be  wroth  with  those  we  love, 
Doth  work  like  madness  in  the  brain ; 

and  I  am  sure  that  nobody  would  have  hailed  with  greater  satisfaction  the 
restoration  of  feelings  of  cordial  amity  in  the  great  Centenary  of  Indepen- 
dence. He  ranks  among  us  writh  those  Americans  whom  we  would  most 
willingly  recognize  as  our  countrymen,  —  Everett,  Ticknor,  Adams,  Long- 
fellow, Motley,  and  Winthrop,  —  all,  I  think,  citizens  of  Massachusetts, 
and  all  equally  welcome  to  England.  In  some  respects,  Sumner  was  the 
most  genial  of  them  all.  He  came  here  young;  he  had  no  stiffness  or  re- 
serve in  his  character ;  and  he  will  always  be  remembered  and  regretted  by 
us  as  one  of  the  most  agreeable  companions  we  have  known." 
vol.  i.  20 


306  MEMOIR   OF   CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1838-39. 

Dowager  Lady  Wharncliffe,  who  survives  her  late  husband, 
John  Stuart  Wortley,  second  Lord  Wharncliffe,  writes  :  — 

"  I  never  knew  an  American  who  had  the  degree  of  social  success  he  had; 
owing,  I  think,  to  the  real  elevation  and  truth  of  his  character,  his  genuine 
nobleness  of  thought  and  aspiration,  his  kindliness  of  heart,  his  absence  of 
dogmatism  and  oratorical  display,  his  general  amiability,  his  cultivation  of 
mind,  and  his  appreciation  of  England  without  any  thing  approaching  to 
flattery  of  ourselves  or  depreciation  of  his  own  country." 

Mr.  Abraham  Hayward  writes  :  — 

"  My  recollections  of  Charles  Sumner  are  scanty,  although  in  the  highest 
degree  favorable.  When  he  first  came  to  England,  he  was  the  editor  of  a 
law  magazine  published  on  the  same  plan  as  that  of  which  I  was  the  princi- 
pal founder  in  1828,  and  which  I  edited  till  1844.  We  had,  therefore,  many 
common  topics  of  interest  from  the  commencement  of  our  acquaintance.  He 
also  brought  letters  of  introduction  from  Mr.  Justice  Story,  with  whom  I 
was  in  constant  correspondence  till  his  death.  Sumner's  social  success  at 
this  early  period,  before  his  reputation  was  established,  was  most  remarka- 
ble. He  was  a  welcome  guest  at  most  of  the  best  houses  both  in  town  and 
country,  and  the  impression  he  uniformly  left  was  that  of  an  amiable,  sensi- 
ble, high-minded,  well-informed  gentleman.  But  his  powers  of  conversation 
were  not  striking;  and  when  you  ask  me  to  recall  the  qualities  which  account 
for  his  success,  I  most  frankly  own  that  it  was  and  is  to  me  as  much  a  puzzle 
as  the  eminent  and  widespread  success  of  your  countryman  and  townsman, 
George  Ticknor.1  At  the  same  time,  I  feel  satisfied  that,  in  each  instance, 
the  success  was  indisputable  and  well  deserved." 

Lady  Monteagle,  daughter  of  Mr.  John  Marshall,  writes :  — 

"I  have  a  distinct  recollection  of  the  pleasant  intercourse  which  I  en- 
joyed with  Mr.  Charles  Sumner  in  my  father's  house,  both  in  London  and  at 
Hallsteads  in  the  year  1838,  when  he  visited  the  English  lakes.  His  intelli- 
gent inquiries  respecting  any  thing  that  differed  from  either  habits  or  opinions 
to  which  he  had  been  accustomed,  and  the  candid  and  genial  manner  in 
which  he  was  ready  to  consider  such  differences,  made  his  society  very  attract- 
ive and  interesting.  In  his  later  visits  to  this  country,  —  when  I  know  that 
my  husband,  Lord  Monteagle,  saw  him  frequently,  —  I  had  not  so  much  per- 
sonal intercourse  with  him,  excepting  in  the  large  meetings  of  London  general 
society.  I  am  sorry  that  I  cannot  supply  any  more  definite  information 
respecting  a  distinguished  man  whose  society  was  so  much  prized  in  this 
country." 

Mrs.  Grote  writes  :  — 

"  My  recollections  of  Charles  Sumner  when  he  first  came  amongst  us  are 
still  fresh  and  lively.     We  first  met  him  at  the  house  of  William  Ord,  M.  P., 

1  Mr.  Hayward  contributed  an  article  on  Mr.  Ticknor' s  Life  to  the  "  Quarterly  Review  " 
for  July,  1876  ;  pp.  160-201. 


AZt.  27-28.]  SERVICES  FOR  AMERICAN  AUTHORS.  307 

and  after  that  at  Mr.  Senior's,  and  other  places.  His  company  was  sought 
and  valued  by  several  families  of  the  English  nobility  and  gentry,  with 
whom  he  became  a  favorite  guest;  and  I  may  safely  affirm  that  no  visitor 
from  the  United  States  ever  received  more  nattering  attention  than  Mr. 
Sumner  from  both  English  and  Scottish  houses.  His  extensive  knowledge, 
polished  manners,  and  genial  cast  of  character  recommended  him  to  all 
circles  of  society;  and  deep  was  the  sympathy  inspired  amongst  us  when 
this  philanthropic  citizen  was  assailed  in  the  savage  manner  so  well  recol- 
lected by  all,  in  1856.  When  the  historian  and  myself  received  Mr.  Sumner 
at  St.  Germain  en  Laye,  in  1858,  he  was  undergoing  the  severe  treatment 
adopted  by  Dr.  Brown-Sequard  for  the  cure  of  his  spinal  injuries.  Subju- 
gated as  he  was  by  the  pain  and  irritation  of  the  injured  organs,  Mr.  Sum- 
ner's conversation  still  preserved  its  charm  and  even  animation,  when  topics 
interesting  to  his  mind  came  up  between  us." 

Mrs.  Parkes  wrote,  in  1876  :  — 

41  It  was  said,  after  Mr.  Sumner's  northern  journey,  that  he  made  the 
acquaintance  of  all  the  principal  Whig  families  going  north,  and  of  the 
Tories  cm  his  return.  He  was  wondrously  popular,  almost  like  a  meteor 
passing  through  the  country.  Young,  agreeable,  full  of  information  and 
animation,  he  enchanted  every  one ;  and  he  bore  the  ovation  well  and  mod- 
estly. I  recollect  him  as  he  then  was  perfectly.  I  used  to  think  he  had 
the  good  fortune  to  dispel  personally  any  lingering  prejudices  which  might 
exist  in  the  British  mind  respecting  their  transatlantic  brethren.  American- 
born  myself,1  and  having  known  much  of  the  disfavor  felt  towards  our  un- 
justly maligned  country,  I  was  very  proud  of  the  young  champion  who  could 
so  well  exhibit  what  well-educated,  well-bred  young  Americans  were,  in  con- 
trast to  the  mercantile  specimens  whom  business  objects  had  more  frequently 
brought  over;  and  who,  being  wealthy  without  the  previous  advantages  of 
education  and  social  culture,  excited  unfavorable  remarks.  They  had  had 
time  to  get  rich,  but  not  time  for  the  usual  concomitants  of  wealth  in  an  old 
country  like  England;  and  it  made  me  very  indignant  that  so  much  that  had 
been  done  should  be  ignored,  and  no  allowance  made  for  the  impossibilities 
of  doing  more.  My  excuse  for  imposing  this  episode  upon  you  must  be  my 
grateful  feeling  to  the  object  of  your  interest,  for  assisting  to  dispel  the 
prejudices  of  those  less  enlightened  days." 

Sumner  became  acquainted  with  the  well-known  publish- 
ers, Colburn,  Maxwell,  Bentley,  Longman,  William  Smith,  and 
Clark  of  Edinburgh  ;  and,  by  means  of  his  friendly  relations  with 
them,  endeavored  to  promote  the  reading  of  American  books  in 
England.    He  obtained  an  English  publisher  for  Lieber's  "  Politi- 

1  Mrs.  Parkes  was  the  granddaughter  of  Dr.  Priestley,  and  in  early  life  lived  in  the 
United  States.  She  died  in  October,  1877.  The  change  in  the  character  of  American 
visitors  to  England  is  referred  to  in  the  "Personal  Life  of  George  Grote,"  pp.  123,  124. 


308  MEMOIR  OF  CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1838-39. 

cal  Ethics,"  and  sought  to  interest  in  the  work  the  managers  of 
the  leading  reviews.  He  also  rendered  a  similar  service  for  some 
of  Judge  Story's  law  treatises.  He  was  assiduous  in  commend- 
ing Prescott's  first  great  work,  the  "  Ferdinand  and  Isabella," 
then  recently  issued,  and  in  obtaining  for  it  fair  criticism  in  the 
reviews,  —  a  service  which  the  author  gratefully  acknowledged.1 
He  sought  the  publication  of  Longfellow's  poems,2  who  was  as  yet 
known  in  England  chiefly  by  his  "  Outre-Mer ;  "  and  made  similar 
efforts  for  Richard  Hildreth's  "  Archy  Moore,"  and  Sparks's 
"  Washington."  He  purchased  books  for  the  Harvard  Law 
School,  and  for  Judge  Story,  Professor  Greenleaf,  and  Luther 
S.  dishing ;  and  caused  copies  of  original  manuscripts  of  Lord 
Hale  and  Hargrave  to  be  made  for  the  judge.  His  interest  in 
the  peculiar  toils  and  pursuits  of  his  friends  was  constant,  and 
he  spared  no  pains  to  serve  them. 

While  in  England,  he  was  much  occupied  with  correspondence, 
writing  often  and  at  great  length  to  Judge  Story  of  lawyers, 
judges,  law-writers,  law-books,  and  courts ;  to  Hillard  of  schol 
ars,  society,  and  personal  experiences ;  and  with  less  frequency 
and  detail  to  Professor  Greenleaf,  Felton,  Cleveland,  Longfel- 
low, Dr.  Lieber,  Mr.  Daveis,  and  a  few  others.  These  letters 
were  written  with  no  view  to  publication  or  even  preservation, 
but  simply  for  the  gratification  of  friends  ;  and,  having  only 
this  purpose  in  view,  he  sometimes  mentioned  in  an  artless  way 
the  kind  things  which  were  said  to  him,  and  the  unusual  courte- 
sies he  received.  He  reclaimed  none  of  them  on  his  return, 
and  his  only  solicitude  concerning  them   was  lest  by  accident 

1  Mr.  Prescott,  not  then  personally  known  to  Sumner,  wrote  to  him,  April  18,  1839 : 
"  Our  friend  Hillard  read  to  me  yesterday  some  extracts  from  a  recent  letter  of  yours,  in 
which  you  speak  of  your  interviews  with  Mr.  Ford,  who  is  to  wield  the  scalping-knife  over 
my  bantling  in  the  '  Quarterly.'  I  cannot  refrain  from  thanking  you  for  your  very  efficient 
kindness  towards  me  in  this  instance,  as  well  as  for  the  very  friendly  manner  in  which  you 
have  enabled  me  to  become  acquainted  with  the  state  of  opinion  on  the  literary  merits  of 
my  History  in  London.  It  is,  indeed,  a  rare  piece  of  good  fortune  to  be  thus  put  in  posses- 
sion of  the  critical  judgments  of  the  most  cultivated  society  who  speak  our  native  language. 
Such  information  cannot  be  gathered  from  reviews  and  magazines,  which  put  on  a  sort  of 
show-dress  for  the  public,  and  which  are  very  often,  too,  executed  by  inferior  hands.  Through 
my  friend  Ticknor  first,  and  subsequently  through  you,  I  have  had  all  the  light  I  could 
desire ;  and  I  can  have  no  doubt  that  to  the  good-natured  offices  of  both  of  you  I  am  in- 
debted for  these  prestiges  in  my  favor,  which  go  a  good  way  towards  ultimate  success.  .  .  . 
Thanks  to  your  friendly  interposition  [referring  to  a  forthcoming  review  of  the  '  Ferdinand 
and  Isabella'  in  the  'Quarterly'],  I  have  no  doubt  this  will  be  better  than  they  deserve; 
and,  should  it  be  otherwise,  I  shall  feel  equally  indebted  to  you."  —Prescott's  "Life,"  pp. 
339,  340. 

2  The  "Voices  of  the  Night "  was  not  published  till  1839. 


JEt.  27-28.]  CORRESPONDENCE.  309 

they  might  reach  the  newspapers.1  Those  received  by  Story 
and  Hillard  were  passed  round  at  the  time  among  his  friends  in 
Boston  and  Cambridge. 

William  W.  Story  writes  concerning  Sumner's  European 
journey :  — 

"  I  wa3  still  in  college  when  he  first  went  to  Europe.  He  longed  to  en- 
large his  horizon,  and  to  meet  face  to  face  the  men  who  ruled  the  world  of 
letters,  politics,  law,  and  government.  The  Houses  of  Parliament,  West- 
minster Hall,  Doctors'  Commons,  the  Temple  and  Inns  of  Court  were  magi- 
cal words  to  him.  He  could  not  rest  till  he  had  seen  them.  Furnished  with 
good  introductions,  he  set  forth  to  the  Old  World;  and  his  lively  letters  show 
the  enthusiasm  with  which  he  walked  in  this  new  region.  I  remember  well 
the  impression  I  received  from  them  as  they  came  back  to  us  over  the  ocean, 
and  how  I  longed  to  be  with  him.  Every  thing  and  every  person  interested 
him:  he  seemed  to  walk  in  enchanted  air.  The  commonest  things  in  the 
commonest  habits  of  a  foreign  people  delighted  him :  he  was  in  a  constant 
state  of  astonishment  and  delight.  He  was  exceedingly  well  received  every- 
where, and  he  left  on  the  minds  of  all  whom  he  met  a  most  agreeable  impres- 
sion. That  visit  opened  to  him  a  new  life ;  and  when  he  returned  he  poured 
forth  a  torrent  of  talk  about  all  that  he  had  seen,  which  was  delightful  to 
hear.  The  letters  he  then  wrote  to  my  father  give  an  admirable  picture 
of  his  mind  at  this  time.  They  are  fresh,  lively,  anecdotical,  enthusiastic, 
—  just  as  he  was." 

With  the  members  of  his  family  he  kept  up  a  correspond- 
ence :  with  his  brother  George,  who,  in  the  early  part  of  1838, 
sailed  for  Russia  via  Elsineur  and  Copenhagen,  and  at  St.  Peters- 
burg met  with  remarkable  favor  from  the  court ;  with  Albert, 
the  captain  of  a  merchantman,  who  was  now  at  New  York  and 
then  at  New  Orleans,  Liverpool,  and  Marseilles ;  with  Henry, 
who,  to  Charles's  regret,  accepted  the  appointment  of  deputy- 
sheriff  in  Boston ;  with  Horace  and  Mary  and  his  mother,  at 
home.2  With  much  earnestness  and  repetition,  he  urged  his 
younger  brothers  and  sisters  to  zeal  in  their  studies,  insisting 
most  on  their  learning  to  speak  the  French  language ;  and  pressed 
his  sister  Mary,  whose  complete  education  he  had  greatly  at  heart, 
beyond  the  limitations  which,  unknown  to  him,  her  physical 
weakness  imposed.      In  the  midst  of   scenes  which  filled   his 

1  He  never  came  into  possession  of  any  of  the  letters  which  he  wrote  from  Europe,  except 
a  part  of  those  written  to  Judge  Story. 

2  His  father,  while  taking  a  paternal  pride  in  his  success  abroad,  expressed  the  fear  that 
he  was  wearing  himself  out  with  social  dissipation,  and  unfitting  himself  for  work  on  hia 
return. 


310  MEMOIR  OF  CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1838-39. 

whole  soul  with  delight,  there  was  no  forgetting  of  home  and 
kindred. 

The  few  American  tourists  sojourning  in  London  in  those  days 
were  generally  brought  into  personal  relations  with  each  other. 
Sumner  welcomed  heartily,  as  a  fellow-lodger  at  2  Vigo  Street, 
Dr.  Shattuck,  his  companion  in  Paris,  who  had  in  the  mean  time 
visited  Italy  and  Germany.  He  met,  in  a  friendly  way,  Rev. 
Ezra  S.  Gannett  and  Rev.  George  E.  Ellis,  Unitarian  divines,  Jo- 
seph Coolidge,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Henry  Cabot,  and  their  daughter, 
afterwards  Mrs.  John  E.  Lodge,  —  all  from  Boston.  The  Cabots 
had  chambers  in  Regent  Street,  near  his  own,  and  he  found  it 
pleasant  to  talk  with  them  of  social  experiences  in  London. 

Thoughts  of  his  vacant  law-office  disturbed  him  at  times  in  the 
fulness  of  his  enjoyments ;  and  he  revealed  to  friends  his  anxiety 
as  to  his  future  success  in  his  profession,  recurring  to  the  pre- 
diction of  President  Quincy  in  their  parting  interview,  that 
Europe  would  only  spoil  him.1 

To  Mr.  Daveis  he  wrote,  Dec.  6  :  — 

"  I  begin  to  think  of  home  and  my  profession.  Tell  me,  as  my  friend, 
what  are  my  chances  at  home.  Will  it  be  said  that  I  have  forgotten  that 
law  which  some  have  given  me  the  credit  of  knowing;  that  I  am  spoiled  for 
practice  and  this  work-a-day  world?  True,  I  should  be  glad  to  be  able  to 
hold  constant  communion  with  the  various  gifted  minds  that  I  nightly  meet; 
to  listen  daily  to  the  arguments  of  Talfouvd  and  Follett:  and  so,  indeed, 
should  I  rejoice  in  more  ennobling  society  still,  —  to  walk  with  Cicero  over 
Elysian  fields,  and  listen  to  the  converse  of  Plato  and  Socrates.  But  I  well 
know  that  I  have  duties  to  perform  which  will  be  any  thing  but  this.  Wel- 
come, then,  labor  in  its  appointed  time!  " 

As  he  left  for  the  Continent,  uncertain  whether  he  should 
return  to  England  on  his  way  home,  many  kind  words  were 
said  to  him.  Lord  Denman  wrote  from  Guildhall,  Feb.  27, 
1839:  — 

"  Allow  me  to  express  the  hope  that  you  like  England  well  enough  to  pay 
us  another  visit.  No  one  ever  conciliated  more  universal  respect  and  good- 
will. Far  from  deserving  your  acknowledgments  to  myself,  I  have  regretted 
that  my  varied  engagements  have  prevented  me  from  paying  you  the  atten- 
tions to  which  you  are  entitled." 

i  Ante,  p.  198.  Such  thoughts  appear  in  letters  to  Judge  Story,  Aug.  18, 1838 ;  Dr. 
Lieber,  Nov.  16  and  Dec.  13,  1838;  Hillard,  Dec.  11,  1838,  March  13,  1839;  and  Professof 
Greenleaf,  Jan.  21,  1839. 


JEt.  27-28.]  KIND  WORDS   IN  PARTING.  311 

John  Kenyon  wrote,  March  17 :  — 

"  Your  time  has  been  well  employed  in  the  best  society  of  every  sort  which 
we  have  to  offer  to  a  stranger ;  and  you  seem  to  me  to  have  passed  through 
the  ordeal  —  for  such  it  is  —  with  balanced  foot  and  mind." 

Robert  Ingham  wrote,  Jan.  19 :  — 

"  Let  us,  I  beg  of  you,  continue  friends.  I  will  not  multiply  speeches,  nor 
dilate  on  the  many  causes  I  have  to  look  back  with  thankfulness  on  that 
casual  cup  of  coffee  at  Baron  Alderson's,  at  Liverpool,  which  introduced  us 
to  each  other.  Only  be  assured  (without  palaver)  that  it  will  be  an  abiding 
pleasure  to  me  to  hear  of  you,  and  above  all  to  hear  from  you." 

In  another  note,  without  date,  he  wrote :  — 

"  I  have  an  irksome  presentiment  that  we  shall  not  meet  in  London  again 
this  year.  '  This  year,'  I  repeat,  for  it  would  indeed  grieve  me  that  the 
grave  was  to  close  over  us  without  another  meeting ;  but  friendship  lasts 
where  intercourse  fails,  and  you  must  not  forget  me.  God  bless  you,  my 
friend,  and  do  not  neglect  to  write." 

In  a  tribute  to  Judge  Story,  Sept.  16,  1845,  Sumner  referred 
to  English  judges  and  lawyers  whom  he  met  at  that  time :  — 

"  Busy  fancy  revives  the  past,  and  persons  and  scenes  renew  themselves 
in  my  memory.  I  call  to  mind  the  recent  Chancellor  of  England,  the  model 
of  a  clear,  grave,  learned,  and  conscientious  magistrate,  —  Lord  Cottenham. 
.1  see  again  the  ornaments  of  Westminster  Hall,  on  the  bench  and  at  the  bar; 
where  sits  Denman,  in  manner,  conduct,  and  character  *  every  inch  '  the 
judge;  where  pleaded  the  consummate  lawyer,  Follett,  whose  voice  is  now 
hushed  in  the  grave;  —  their  judgments,  their  arguments,  their  conversation 
I  cannot  forget :  but  thinking  of  these,  I  feel  new  pride  in  the  great  magis- 
trate, the  just  judge,  the  consummate  lawyer  whom  we  lament."  * 

During  his  stay  in  England,  Sumner,  as  has  been  seen,  enjoyed 
a  rare  opportunity  of  observing  closely  the  men  of  that  day 
who  had  been  distinguished  in  Parliament  or  in  the  Cabinet. 
Their  broad  culture,  their  delight  in  classical  studies,  their  large 
knowledge  of  history  and  international  law,  their  high-bred 
courtesy  and  finished  address  in  debate,  impressed  his  imagina- 
tion and  shaped  his  ideal  of  a  statesman.  Near  the  end  of  his 
life,  when  set  upon  by  public  men  who  envied  his  fame  but  could 
not  comprehend  his  elevation  of  spirit,  he  must  have  recalled,  in 
contrast  with  them,  these  exemplars  of  his  youth. 

l  Works,  Vol.  I.  p.  144. 


312  MEMOIR  OF    CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1838 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

FIRST  WEEKS  IN  LONDON.  — JUNE  AND  JULY,  1838.  — AGE,  27. 


LETTERS. 


TO  HIS  BROTHER  GEORGE,  ST.  PETERSBURG. 

London,  June  1,  1838. 

My  dear  George,  — I  write  you  my  first  lines  from  London,  and  that 
with  the  especial  object  to  reclaim  sundry  letters  which  the  Barings  have  had 
the  folly  to  despatch  to  St.  Petersburg  after  you.  .  .  . 

Last  night  I  entered  London,  having  passed  just  five  months  in  Paris ; 
and,  when  I  found  myself  here,  I  seemed  at  home  again.  Paris  is  great, 
vast,  magnificent;  but  London  is  powerful,  mighty,  tremendous.  The  one 
has  the  manifestations  of  taste  and  art  all  about  it;  the  other  those  of 
wealth  and  business.  Public  buildings  here  seem  baby-houses  compared 
with  what  Paris  affords.  Go  to  Paris,  you  will  see  art  in  its  most  vari- 
ous forms;  you  will  see  taste  in  the  dress  of  everybody,  in  the  arrange- 
ment of  the  shop-windows,  and  particularly  in  the  glories  of  the  opera.  I 
have  been  to  Drury  Lane  to-night.  I  went  late;  and  yet  I  could  not  stay 
through  the  evening,  so  dull  and  tasteless  did  it  seem.  The  last  night  I  was 
in  Paris  I  attended  the  French  Opera,  and  the  wonders  of  that  scenic  display 
are  yet  thrilling  my  mind.  But  I  have  not  come  abroad  to  see  theatres, 
though  these,  as  one  phase  of  society,  I  see  with  interest  always.  I  was 
much  absorbed  while  in  Paris  with  observing  the  administration  of  justice, 
and  endeavoring  to  master  the  system  of  the  French  law,  —  a  subject  to  a 
foreigner  of  much  difficulty  j  and  I  confidently  think  that  I  have  reaped 
not  a  little  advantage  from  the  pursuit,  and  that  I  may  be  able  to  apply 
my  knowledge  to  some  profit  hereafter:  perhaps  I  shall  write  some  work 
on  the  subject,  though  I  hardly  venture  to  think  of  it.  It  is  more  prob- 
able that  I  shall  endeavor  to  use  the  knowledge  I  have  acquired  and  the 
opinions  I  have  formed  in  influencing  some  changes  and  improvements  in 
the  laws  of  my  country.  If  you  conclude  to  visit  Paris,  do  not  fail  to  let  me 
know  beforehand ;  for  I  can  give  you  instructions  with  regard  to  your  man- 
agement there  which  are  the  result  of  five  months'  study  and  mingling  with 
a  great  variety  of  people.  .  .  . 


^r.  27.]  FIRST  THOUGHTS  IN  LONDON.  313 

I  have  been  here* one  day;  have  seen  much  already;  have  been  proposed 
as  an  honorary  member  of  one  of  the  clubs,  and  cordially  received  by  Earl 
Fitzwilliam,  — one  of  the  first  peers  of  the  realm.  As  yet,  however,  I  have 
not  presented  one  of  my  letters  of  introduction;  that  I  shall  not  do  till 
I  have  selected  lodgings.  After  these  I  am  in  full  chase ;  but  I  wish  my 
letters  even  more  than  lodgings,  though  I  despair  of  comfort  until  I  have 
both.  Send  back  my  letters,  then,  my  dear  George;  send  back  my  letters, 
and  believe  me 

As  ever,  affectionately  yours,  Chas. 


TO  JUDGE  STORY,  CAMBRIDGE. 

Garrick  Club,1  London,  June  4,  1838. 

My  dear  Judge, — .  .  .  My  pulses  beat  quick  as  I  first  drove  from 
London  Bridge  to  the  tavern,  and,  with  my  head  reaching  far  out  of  the 
window,  caught  the  different  names  of  streets,  so  familiar  by  sound,  but  now 
first  presented  to  the  eye.  As  I  passed  the  Inns,  those  chosen  seats  of  an- 
cient Themis,  and  caught  the  sight  of  "  Chancery  Lane,"  I  felt  —  but  you 
will  understand  it  all. 

I  send  now  my  memoir  of  your  life  and  writings,  which  I  have  prepared 
to  be  laid  before  the  Institute  with  an  accompanying  letter.  Of  course, 
I  was  very  much  cramped  by  writing  in  a  foreign  language ;  but  yet  I  have 
contrived  to  say  one  or  two  things  which,  I  hope,  are  as  just  in  fact  as  they 
are  appositely  introduced.  Writing  in  the  country  of  Cujas  and  D'Agues- 
seau,  I  could  not  forbear  making  an  allusion  to  those  great  minds. 

As  ever,  my  affectionate  recollections  to  all  your  family  and  to  yourself. 

C.  S. 

P.  S.  London  teeming  with  interest  will  naturally  form  the  subject  of 
many  letters. 


TO  GEORGE  S.  HILLARD,  BOSTON. 

Garrick  Club,  June  4,  1838. 
My  dear  Hillard,  —  From  Paris  to  London  is  but  a  span  in  distance 
on  the  globe,  and  yet  what  spaces  separate  them  when  we  regard  manners, 
morals,  character,  and  external  appearances!  I  thought  that  five  months' 
study  of  one  great  city  teeming  with  life,  animation,  and  gayety  would  take 
off  the  edge  of  my  wonder,  and  throw  over  all  other  places  that  I  may  visit  a 
secondary  character.  But  here  I  am  in  "famous  London  town,"  and  my 
wonder  still  attends  me ;  but  it  is  of  an  entirely  different  quality  from  that 

i  Established  in  1831,  in  King  Street,  Covent  Garden,  for  literary  men,  and  particu- 
larly for  those  who  were  by  profession  or  tastes  specially  interested  in  the  drama.  Its 
collection  of  pictures  contain  several  painted  by  Sir  Peter  Lely,  Gainsborough,  and  Rey- 
nolds.   The  club  was  frequented  by  Theodore  Hook  and  Albert  Smith. 


314  MEMOIR  OF  CHARLES   SUMNER.  [[&%, 

born  of  Paris.  I  have  a  sense  of  oppression  as  I  walk  these  various  streets, 
see  the  thronging  thousands,  catch  the  hum  of  business,  and  feel  the  plethora 
of  life  about  me.  The  charm  of  antiquity,  so  subtle  and  commanding,  —  at 
least  I  confess  to  its  power,  —  the  charm  of  taste,  and  then  the  excitement 
produced  by  a  constant  consciousness  that  one  is  in  a  foreign  land:  these  be- 
long to  Paris.  Here  I  seem  again  at  home;  I  start  as  I  catch  English 
sounds  in  the  streets ;  and  for  the  moment  believe  that  I  am  in  New  York 
or  more  loved  Boston  when  I  see  the  signs  over  shop-doors  staring  me  in 
the  face.  The  style  of  building  is  American;  or  rather  ours  is  English. 
Everywhere  I  see  brick.  I  do  not  remember  a  house  in  Paris  of  that  mate- 
rial. If  I  enter  a  house,  I  find  the  furniture  like  ours;  and  then,  over  and 
above  all,  is  the  common  language,  which,  like  the  broad  and  "casing 
air,"  seems  to  be  perpetually  about  me. 

I  left  Paris,  May  29,  in  the  diligence,  early  in  the  morning;  rode  all  day 
and  night  and  all  the  next  day,  when,  at  six  o'clock  in  the  evening,  I  entered 
the  old  fortifications  of  Calais.  Here  I  gave  my  French  a  considerable 
"airing," — the  last  it  will  receive  for  some  time,  —  in  scolding  at  the 
twenty  servants  and  agents  of  different  inns,  who,  as  I  alighted,  besieged 
me  and  my  luggage  in  a  style  of  importunity  which  I  think  you  cannot  con- 
ceive. Sharp-set,  indeed,  are  these  European  tide-waiters;  those  of  New 
York  might  take  some  lessons  in  this  school.  From  Calais  I  sailed  at  three 
o'clock  the  next  morning,  bound  direct  for  London.  My  friends,  English 
and  American,  advised  me  to  take  this  route,  and  enter  London  by  the  gate 
of  the  sea ; 1  and  I  feel  that  the  advice  was  good.  I  waked  up  in  the  morn- 
ing on  board  the  small  steamer,  and  found  her  scudding  along  the  shores  of 
Kent.  There  were  England's  chalky  cliffs  full  in  sight,  —  steep,  beetling, 
inaccessible,  and  white.  Point  after  point  was  turned,  and  Godwin's  Sands 
—  where  was  buried  the  fat  demesne  of  old  Duke  Godwin,  the  father  of 
Harold  —  were  left  on  the  right.  We  entered  the  Thames ;  passed  smiling 
villages,  attractive  seats,  and  a  neat  country  on  the  banks,  and  thousands 
of  vessels  floating  on  the  river.  For  eighty  miles  there  was  a  continuous 
stream  of  vessels ;  and  as  we  gradually  approached  the  city,  then  did  the 
magnitude,  the  mightiness,  of  this  place  become  evident.  For  five  miles  on 
either  side,  the  banks  were  literally  lined  with  ships,  their  black  hulls  in 
gloomy  array,  and  their  masts  in  lengthening  forests.  We  were  landed  at 
London  Bridge,  and  my  eyes  recognized  at  once  "  London's  column  pointing 
to  the  skies,"  and,  as  I  drove  up  to  lodgings,  St.  Paul's.  When  I  landed  I 
first  supposed  myself  in  the  centre  of  the  city ;  but  I  subsequently  found  that 
I  hardly  reached  this  point,  when,  driving  two  miles,  I  was  set  down  at  the 
Tavistock  Hotel,  in  Covent  Garden. 

They  have  made  me  an  honorary  member  of  the  Garrick  Club,  where  I 
dine,  and  now  write,  with  the  magazines  and  papers  within  reach,  and  the 
most  perfect  picture-gallery  of  the  British  stage  which  exists,  adorning  the 
walls  of  the  salon.  Here  Talfourd  takes  his  negus  on  passing  to  Westminster 
Hall  in  the  morning,  and  also  his  midnight  potation  on  returning  from  Par- 

1  John  Wilkes  ("0.  P  Q.")  was  one  who  advised  this  route. 


JEt.  27.]  A  DEBATE  IN  THE  COMMONS.  315 

liament;  here  Poole  takes  his  cheese  and  salad,  and  tells  stories  which  would 
do  well  in  "  Paul  Pry,"  and  redeem  the  degenerate  numbers  of  "  Little  Ped- 
dlington."  I  have  also  been  nominated  for  another  club.  All  this  is  well, 
as  it  opens  to  me  various  ways  of  meeting  society.  I  must  tell  you  more  at 
large  of  London  club-life.  The  two  nights  that  I  have  been  at  my  club,  I 
have  been  all  unconscious  of  the  progress  of  time,  and  midnight  has  been  far 
advanced  before  I  thought  of  retiring.     Such  are  London  hours! 

What  was  my  disappointment  on  arriving  at  London,  when  I  found  no 
letter  from  you!  The  Barings  had  sent  all  my  letters,  except  one  or  two,  to 
my  brother  at  St.  Petersburg.  Do  thank  Longfellow  for  his  capital  letter, 
which  by  good  luck  stayed  behind ;  also  Lawrence,  for  his  hearty,  friendly 
lines;  and  Greenleaf  for  his  lamentation  over  the  changing  spirit  of  the 
times.  I  shall  write  them  all  in  due  time;  but  at  present  my  hands  and 
time  are  so  full  that  I  cannot. 

I  find,  as  I  get  into  the  atmosphere  of  the  wits  of  London,  that  I  see  many 
literary  characters  in  different  lights  from  those  in  which  we  view  them  at  a 
distance.  In  the  short  time  that  I  have  been  here  I  have  heard  a  flood  of 
anecdote  and  gossip,  but  must  reserve  all  these  things  for  conversation  in 
future  years.  No,  I  will  forget  it;  for  you  will  have  the  Ticknors  with  you, 
to  whom  all  things  have  been  revealed :  I  can  only  hope  to  follow  humbly 
in  their  wake.  I  assure  you,  they  have  seen  the  prime  of  England;  and  I 
promise  you  a  treat  in  the  reminiscences  which  they  can  pour  out :  their  auto- 
graphs and  little  memorials  of  that  kind  alone  would  not  be  of  slight  con- 
sequence; but  above  all  these  is  the  living  spring  of  knowledge  and  of  actual 
experience  of  London  life,  and  of  all  the  wits  that  sparkle  in  its  deep  waters. 

I  have  not  time  to  write;  and  so  I  say,  Good-by.     I  am  startled  by  the 
expenses  here;  but,  prudence.     Nullum  numen  abest,  &c. 
Yours  affectionately, 

Chas.  Sumner. 


TO  JUDGE  STORY,  CAMBRIDGE. 

London,  June  14,  1838. 
My  dear  Judge,  —  Three  places  have  I  seen  which  you  would  like  to  see, 
and  which  I  have  longed  to  see,  — the  House  of  Commons,  Doctors'  Commons, 
and  Westminster  Hall.  Do  you  not  start  at  the  thought  ?  I  can  assure  you, 
I  did  not  enter  either  without  a  thrill.  My  first  night  at  the  Commons  was 
very  dull.  I  happened  there,  led  by  some  barrister  friends,  at  ten  or  eleven 
o'clock  at  night,  when  nothing  was  in  hand  except  some  matters  of  ordinary 
business.  For  half  an  hour  the  novelty  of  the  situation,  and  the  thronging 
fancies  which  possessed  me,  kept  me  wide  awake ;  but  after  that  I  found 
sleep  stealing  gradually  over  my  eyelids  and  —  you  will  read  it  with  astonish- 
ment—  I  slept  under  the  gallery  of  the  House  of  Commons!  Another  night 
was  full  of  thrilling  interest.  Mr.  Whittle  Harvey 2  took  me  under  his  wing, 
and  I  was  admitted  to  the  floor  of  the  House,  the  evening  of  the  twelfth  of 

1  M.  P.  for  Southwark ;  born  in  1786. 


816  MEMOIR  OF  CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1838. 

June,  during  the  discussion  of  the  Irish  Municipal  Corporation  Bill ;  and  there 
I  sat  from  six  o'clock  till  the  cry  of  "  divide  "  drove  me  out  at  twelve.1  Need 
I  tell  you  that  the  interest  was  thrilling  during  the  whole  time  ?  Peel 2  made 
a  beautiful  speech, — polished,  graceful,  self-possessed,  candid,  or  apparently 
candid,  in  the  extreme.  We  have  no  man  like  him;  in  some  respects  he 
reminded  me  of  William  Sullivan,8  but  he  made  more  of  an  effort  than  I  ever 
heard  Mr.  Sullivan  make ;  and  yet  there  was  rather  a  want  of  power.  Lord 
John  Russell 4  rose  in  my  mind  the  more  I  listened  to  him.  In  person  dimin- 
utive and  rickety,  he  reminded  me  of  a  pettifogging  attorney  who  lives  near 
Lechmere  Point.  He  wriggled  round,  played  with  his  hat,  seemed  unable  to 
dispose  of  his  hands  or  his  feet;  his  voice  was  small  and  thin,  but  notwith- 
standing all  this,  a  house  of  upwards  of  five  hundred  members  was  hushed  to 
catch  his  slightest  accents.  You  listened,  and  you  felt  that  you  heard  a  man 
of  mind,  of  thought,  and  of  moral  elevation.  Sheil5  then  broke  forth  with 
one  of  his  splendid  bursts,  full  of  animation  in  the  extreme;  in  gesture  and 
glow  like  William  Sturgis;  6  in  voice,  I  should  think,  like  John  Randolph. 
He  screamed  and  talked  in  octaves,  and  yet  the  House  listened  and  the 
cheers  ensued.  Sir  Edward  Sugden7  tried  to  speak,  but  calls  of  "  question," 
"  divide,"  and  all  sorts  of  guttural,  expectorating  sounds  from  members  in  a 
corner,  or  outstretched  on  the  benches  of  the  gallery,  prevented  my  catching 
a  word  of  what  he  said  during  the  half -hour  he  was  on  his  legs.  Sir  John 
Campbell,  the  Solicitor-General,8  and  Follett,  all  spoke;  and  of  these  Follett 
was  by  far  the  best.  O'Connell  spoke  several  times,  but  only  long  enough  to 
give  me  a  taste  of  his  voice,  which  is  rich  in  the  extreme,  more  copious  and 
powerful  than  Clay's,  though  less  musical.  But  I  have  not  space  to  write 
you  all  my  impressions.     I  must  reserve  them  for  conversation. 

The  first  court  I  entered  was  Doctors'  Commons.  The  Prerogative  Court 
was  sitting,  and  Sir  Herbert  Jenner 9  was  on  the  bench.  I  was  taken  by 
one  of  my  friends  among  the  doctors  (there  are  but  fourteen  or  fifteen  in 
all)  into  their  seat,  where  I  sat  a  solitary  wigless  man.  In  one  case  I 
heard  Doctors  Adams  and  Haggard,10  with  an  opinion  from  Jenner.     All 

1  Hansard's  Parliamentary  Debates,  Third  Series,  Vol.  XL.  pp.  617-655. 

2  1788-1850.  Peel  was  at  this  period  the  leader  of  the  Conservatives.  In  1835  he  had 
been  succeeded  by  Lord  Melbourne  as  Prime-Minister ;  afterwards,  in  1841,  he  succeeded 
Lord  Melbourne. 

8  1774-1839 ;  an  eminent  lawyer  of  Boston,  and  a  Federalist  in  politics.  As  an  author, 
he  wrote  upon  the  characters  and  events  of  the  American  Revolution.     Ante,  p  83. 

4  Lord  John  Russell  (now  Earl)  was  born  in  1792.  In  1838  he  was  the  Secretary  of  the 
Home  Department.  Sumner  wrote  to  Lieber,  Sept.  3,  1838 :  "  You  are  right  in  your  suppo- 
sition about  Lord  John  Russell.    He  is  one  of  the  greatest  men  I  have  seen  in  England."' 

6  Richard  Lalor  Sheil,  1793-1851. 

6  1782-1863 ;  a  merchant  of  Boston. 

""  1781-1875;  author  of  law  treatises  on  e  fendors  and  Purchasers"  and  "Powers;" 
entered  Parliament  in  1828;  Solicitor-Genera*  in  1829;  Lord  Chancellor  of  Ireland,  1834-35 
and  1841-46 ;  and,  in  1852,  Lord  Chancellor  of  Great  Britain,  with  the  title  of  Baron  St. 
Leonards. 

8  Rolfe. 

»  Died  Feb.  20,  1852,  aged  75. 

10  John  Haggard ;  reporter  of  cases  in  tae  Consistory,  Admiralty,  and  Ecclesiastical  Courts. 


JEt.  27.]  JUDGES  AND  LAWYERS.  317 

these  advocates  were  as  dull  as  possible  :  the  whole  business  of  this  court  is 
conducted  in  a  conversational  style.  Phillimore x  and  Lushington  are  the  two 
chief  men.  You  cannot  conceive  my  gratification  at  hearing  Dr.  Harding, 
my  friend  and  attendant,  say,  even  before  he  knew  my  relation  to  you, 
"  Your  countryman  Story,  I  think,  has  written  the  best  law-book  in  the  Eng- 
lish language  after  Blackstone;"  and  I  must  not  omit  to  add  that,  before 
going  to  Doctors'  Commons,  I  breakfasted  with  a  friend  of  the  common-law 
bar,  Mr.  White,2  in  King's  Bench  Walk,  Temple,  and  found  in  his  library 
your  "  Conflict  of  Laws."  All  the  courts  of  Westminster  I  have  seen.  Mr. 
Justice  Vaughan  was  kind  enough  to  quit  the  bench  during  a  hearing,  and 
speak  with  me.  He  has  treated  me  with  the  greatest  distinction.  Day  after 
to-morrow  I  dine  with  him  to  meet  the  Vice-Chan cellor  8  and  Alexander,4  the 
old  Chief  Baron,  with  several  other  judges.  Mr.  Justice  Vaughan  has  already 
mentioned  my  visit  to  Tindal  and  Denman,  and  they  have  been  pleased  to 
say  that  they  shall  be  glad  to  see  me.  I  am  struck  with  the  spirit  of  comity 
which  prevails  between  barrister  and  barrister,  and  between  bench  and  bar. 
But  I  should  write  a  volume  if  I  expressed  all  that  is  in  my  mind.  I  have 
heard  Campbell,  Follett  (the  best  of  all),  Talfourd  (I  dine  with  him  next 
Sunday),  Sergeant  Wilde,  Erie,  Williams,  Piatt,  &c.  I  wish  to  talk  with 
you  about  all  these.     I  am  going  a  circuit. 

As  ever,  yours  most  affectionately, 

Chas.  Sumnek. 

P.  S.  Sir  Charles  Vaughan 5  has  been  very  kind,  and  made  the  most 
friendly  inquiries  after  you.  He  wrote  me  a  very  warm-hearted  note.  Stuart 
Wortley  has  been  quite  civil. 


TO  GEORGE  S.  HILLARD. 

London,  June  14,  1838. 
My  dear  Hillard,  —  The  Ticknors  are  gone,  and  I  am  in  this  great 
world  all  alone.     To  be  sure  I  already  know  multitudes;  I  frequent  pub- 
lic places  and  clubs,  and  have  been  kindly  received  by  judges  and  lawyers, 
members  of  Parliament  and  others;  but  I  am  without  the  sympathies  of 

i  Joseph  Phillimore,  1775-1855;  Regius  Professor  of  Civil  Law  in  the  University  of 
Oxford;  a  contributor  to  the  "Edinburgh  Review;"  member  of  Parliament,  1817-30;  re- 
porter for  the  Ecclesiastical  and  Prerogative  courts;  appointed,  in  1834,  King's  Advocate 
in  the  Admiralty  Court;  and,  in  1846,  Judge  of  the  Consistory  Court  of  Gloucester. 

2  William  Frederick  White,  with  whom  Sumner  breakfasted  June  5. 

8  Sir  Lancelot  Shadwell. 

*  William  Alexander,  1761-1842 ;  Lord  Chief  Baron  of  the  Exchequer,  1824-31. 

«  Sir  Charles  Richard  Vaughan,  1775-1849;  Fellow  of  All  Souls'  College,  Oxford;  Secre- 
tary of  Legation  in  Spain  in  1810;  Minister  Plenipotentiary  to  Spain,  1815-16;  to  Switzer- 
land in  1823 ;  and  to  the  United  States,  1825-35  (with  an  absence,  1831-33).  His  friendly 
relations  at  Washington  with  Judge  Story  brought  the  latter  into  a  correspondence  with 
Mr.  Justice  Vaughan,  a  brother  of  Sir  Charles.  Story's  "Life  and  Letters."  Sumner, 
while  in  England,  was  indebted  to  Sir  Charles  for  many  civilities. 


318  MEMOIR  OF  CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1838. 

home:  and  yet  I  need  not  complain;  T  have  found  so  much  kindness,  and 
particularly  from  my  old  friend  Brown.  I  belong  to  two  clubs,  —  the 
Garrick,  and  the  Alfred.  The  Garrick  is  the  chosen  place  of  the  wits: 
dining  quietly  there,  you  may  see  and  enjoy  the  society  of  many  of  the  men 
whose  scintillations  we  catch  even  across  the  Atlantic.  There  is  poor  James 
Smith,  one  of  the  handsomest  men  I  ever  saw,  tall  and  well-proportioned, 
with  a  clear,  bright  eye,  and  the  white  silver  crown  of  age ;  and  yet  observe 
his  hand,  and  you  see  the  horrid  marks  of  gout,  and  on  his  foot  the  large  soft 
shoe ;  often  he  calls  the  waiter  to  cut  his  meat,  his  hand  is  so  lame.  Hayward 
I  saw  there  yesterday  talking  earnestly  with  Stephen  Price,1  the  author,  you 
will  remember,  of  that  redoubtable  punch  commemorated  in  the  u  Quarterly." 
Poole,2  of  "Paul  Pry"  memory,  sits  very  quietly,  eating  moderately  and 
using  few  but  choice  words ;  I  have  heard  him  say  some  very  clever  things. 
Forster,  of  the  "Examiner,"  formerly  dined  there  often.  Talfourd  is  a 
night-bird ;  he  does  not  appear  till  midnight  or  thereabouts.  Then  a  quan- 
tity of  barristers  congregate  here,  so  that  I  am  always  sure  to  find  some- 
body with  whom  to  have  a  good  talk;  further,  the  charges  are  the  most 
moderate  in  London.  In  the  ' '  Alfred ' '  8  there  is  more  style,  a  larger 
library,  better  cooking,  and  less  society.  A  delightful  place  it  is  to  read 
the  reviews  and  new  publications ;  you  will  find  them  all  there  in  a  beau- 
tiful suite  of  drawing-rooms,  full  of  chairs  the  most  variously  contrived  for 
comfort  that  I  ever  saw;  you  will  hardly  find  two  alike,  so  that  when  your 
body  is  tired  of  one  position,  you  may  fall  into  another.  It  was  here  that 
I  read  Brougham's  article  in  the  last  "  Edinburgh  "  on  George  IV.,  in  parts 
excessively  able,  and  full  of  democratic  tendencies.4  I  am  told  it  has  ex- 
cited a  greater  stir  than  any  other  article  which  ever  appeared  in  any  jour- 
nal, and  it  is  considered  his  Lordship's  best  production  in  point  of  style. 
Poor  Lord  Brougham!  how  fallen!  He  is,  indeed,  fallen:  you  know  my 
gauge  of  men's  position  and  my  admiration  of  his  career,  and  you  will 
understand  me  when  I  say  he  is  fallen.  I  shall  undoubtedly  see  him  while 
here. 

I  heard  Carlyle  lecture  the  other  day;  he  seemed  like  an  inspired  boy; 
truth  and  thoughts  that  made  one  move  on  the  benches  came  from  his 
apparently  unconscious  mind,  couched  in  the  most  grotesque  style,  and  yet 
condensed  to  a  degree  of  intensity,  if  I  may  so  write.  He  is  the  Zerah 
Colburn  of  thought ;  childlike  in  manner  and  feeling,  and  yet  reaching  by 
intuition  points  and  extremes  of  ratiocination  which  others  could  not  so  well 

1  He  was  for  many  years  one  of  the  proprietors  of  the  Park  Theatre,  New  York,  and 
afterwards  manager  and  lessee  of  the  Drury  Lane  Theatre,  London.  He  died  in  New 
York,  Jan.  20,  1840,  while  in  charge  of  the  Park  Theatre.  He  was  the  inventor  of  the  gin 
punch,  made  with  iced  soda  water,  in  which  Theodore  Hook  indulged  freely.  The  recipe 
is  given  in  "Timbs's  Club  Life  of  London,"  Vol.  I.  pp.  263,  264. 

2  John  Poole,  1786-1872 ;  author  of  farces,  of  which  "Paul  Pry,"  published  in  1825,  is 
the  most  famous.    He  died  poor  and  neglected.  I 

8  In  Albemarle  Street ;  founded  in  1808,  with  a  membership  composed  largely  of  trav- 
ellers and  men  of  letters. 

*  April,  1838,  Vol.  LXVTI.  pp.  1-80.  "  George  the  Fourth  and  Queen  Caroline  Abuses 
of  the  Press." 


Mt.  27.]  DELIGHT  IN  HIS  JOURNEY.  319 

accomplish  after  days  of  labor,  if  indeed  they  ever  could.  I  have  received 
from  him  a  very  kind  note  inviting  me  to  pass  an  evening  with  him ; l  but 
another  engagement  prevented  my  accepting.  To-morrow  I  dine  with  Mr. 
Justice  Vaughan,  to  meet  the  Vice-Chancellor  and  other  judges;  the  next 
day  with  Stephen  Price;  the  next  with  Talfourd,  &c.  My  forenoons  are  at 
Westminster  Hall, — that  glorious  old  Hall,  the  seat  of  the  richest  and 
most  hallowed  associations.  I  can  hardly  believe,  as  I  look  about  me,  that 
it  is  I  who  have  been  permitted  to  enjoy  the  rich  tapestry  of  society  and 
thought  and  history  which  is  now  about  me.  I  can  say  nothing  of  the  House 
of  Commons;  I  have  written  of  that  to  Judge  Story.  Whittle  Harvey,  of 
great  parliamentary  fame,  has  been  offered  the  British  Consulate  at  Boston. 
The  Ministry  will  be  glad  to  get  rid  of  him. 

As  ever,  yours  affectionately/  Chas.  Sumner. 


TO  HENRY  W.  LONGFELLOW,   CAMBRIDGE. 

Alfred  Club,  London,  June  15,  1838. 
Dear  Longfellow,  —  I  found  your  cheering  letter,  welcome-like,  on  my 
arrival  in  London.  It  did  me  good  to  read  it,  for  it  carried  me  back  to  times 
of  converse,  when  we  have  talked  over  some  of  the  things  and  sights  which 
are  now  challenging  my  admiration.  But  books  and  conversation,  —  what 
do  they  do  towards  initiation  into  the  real  mysteries  of  travel  ?  It  is  a  Free- 
masonry, which  is  only  revealed  to  those  who  have  taken  the  traveller's  staff 
and  scrip.  Before  my  starting,  I  had  read  much  of  Europe  and  talked  much 
with  those  who  had  enjoyed  it,  and  my  imagination  withal  had  done  busi- 
ness enough  in  picturing  the  reality ;  but  what  spaces  did  my  imagination 
halt  behind  the  reality !  To  you  I  may  write  all  this,  for  your  own  experience 
will  verify  what  I  say.  Is  it  not  great  and  glorious  to  walk  the  teeming 
streets  of  magnificent  capitals,  —  to  see  the  productions  of  art  at  every  turn, 
—  to  gaze  on  some  time-honored  erection,  from  every  stone  of  which  issues 
some  reverend  history,  —  then  to  observe  foreign  manners,  and  mayhap  to 
catch  the  unwonted  tones  of  a  language  which  you  heard  not  in  your  cradle  ? 

l  The  following  is  the  note :  — 

6  Cheyne  Road,  Chelsea. 

"Dear  Sir,  —Your  card  and  Emerson's  letter  lay  waiting  for  me  yesterday,  when  I  got 
back  to  my  little  room.  I  had  not  understood  till  then  that  it  was  New  England  friends; 
that  it  was  other  than  'two  foreign  gentlemen,  Germans  most  probably,'  who  wanted  to 
see  me,  and  hear  me.  To  hear  me  they  were  welcome  ;  but  I  could  see  no  one  at  that  time. 
I  hope  you,  as  my  friend's  friend,  understood  it  all  and  excused  it.  Perhaps  now,  as  it  has 
gone  so,  you  will  come  down  and  see  us  here.  We  are  generally  at  home ;  we  are  to  be  at 
home  specially  on  Saturday  evening  for  one  date ;  tea  at  7  o'clock :  that  evening  will  be 
safer  than  another.  We  will  expect  you  if  we  hear  nothing  to  the  contrary.  Along  with 
your  card  lay  cards  of  Mr.  Gannett  and  Dr.  Warren,  both  Boston  men.  If  they  are 
friends  of  yours  and  will  come  on  such  unceremonious  terms  as  these,  we  shall  be  right 
glad  to  see  you  all.  I  had  another  letter  from  Emerson,  forwarded  by  you  (I  think)  from 
Paris.    Hoping  to  know  you  better  soon, 

Faithfully  yours,  T.  Carltle. 


320  MEMOIR*  OF  CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1838 

At  Paris  I  ever  felt  the  romance  of  travel,  for  I  never  could  deceive  myself 
into  the  belief  that  I  was  not  abroad;  but  here  in  London,  with  everlasting 
brick  before  my  eyes,  and  English  reaching  my  ears,  I  sometimes  start  and 
fear  that  I  am  at  home !  I  tremble  for  my  visions,  my  hopes,  and  anticipations, 
and  look  round  almost  expecting  to  see  a  client  or  a  printer's  devil;  and  in 
the  night,  when  touched  but  lightly  by  the  leaden  sceptre  of  sleep,  I  dream 
that  1  am  in  Boston,  —  that  an  early  breakfast  awaits  me,  and  some  heavy 
technical  work  will  absorb  the  whole  of  the  coming  day.  And  yet  you  know 
that  I  love  that  dear  city,  and  hope  again  to  live  there  among  my  cherished 
friends ;  but  the  thought  of  returning  before  my  time,  with  an  unsatisfied 
mind,  and  desires  still  raging,  —  I  will  not  think  of  it. 

Before  this  reaches  you,  Felton  will  be  a  married  man ! 1  Poor  fellow, 
he  can  never  travel !  All  this  great  book  in  which  I  am  reading,  and  with 
whose  leaves  I  sport  daily,  is  to  him  closed.  He  would  enjoy  its  broad  mag- 
nificent page,  and  should  come  and  look  into  it  if  he  can.  But  that  house 
which  report  says  he  has  builded,  and  that  Lexicon  which  he  has  not  yet 
finished,  and  the  wife  he  has  taken,  will  all  keep  him  at  home.  You  will 
be  the  better  for  his  society;  but  he  will  live  with  unsatisfied  longings,  till 
from  the  eminence  of  death  (shall  I  be  serious  ?  —  I  start  at  the  word  I  have 
traced)  he  looks  down  upon  all  the  things  of  earth,  and  nations  are  to  him 
as  Greek  particles  now.     I  really  wish  Felton  could  come  abroad.2 

is  here,  where  he  has  sported  himself  for  a  year  or  more;  liv- 
ing on  nothing,  writing  in  the  "  Athenaeum,"  tramping  in  the  country, 
calling  on  anybody  he  fancies  with  or  without  introduction.  He  has  an 
article  in  the  forthcoming  "  Quarterly  Review,"  3  on  "  Atlantic  Steam  Navi- 
gation." Lockhart,  when  he  presented  it,  growled  .a  ghastly  smile,  fretted 
about  the  handwriting  as  being  infinitely  the  worst  he  had  ever  seen, 

and  left  poor in  nubibus  with  regard  to  its  acceptance  or  rejection. 

Our  author  takes  a  tramp  in  the  country,  and  on  his  return  finds  a  very 
civil  note  from  Lockhart,  and  the  article  advertised  to  be  in  the  forthcoming 
number  for  June.     Tres  Men. 

Old  Harvard,  stands  it  where  it  did  ?  Quincy  Hall,  does  it  peer  above 
the  foundations?  And  prejudices  against  the  college  and  the  present 
order  of  things, — where  are  they?  And  what  are  you  about?  Do  keep 
me  informed  of  all  that  you  do.  I  hope  to  return  home  and  resume  the 
threads  of  society  and  friendship  and  business,  losing  nothing  in  the  way 
of  either  by  my  absence;  and  I  must  rely  upon  my  friends  keeping  me 
informed  of  what  passes. 

What  has  become  of  Hillard  ?  He  is  alive  and  well  I  trust  ?  And  the 
"North  American  Review,"  I  hope  it  thrives.  I  wish  you  would  be  kind 
enough  to  say  to  Dr.  Palfrey  that  I  shall  write  him  on  the  different  points 
of  his  letter  as  soon  as  possible.     And  Mr.  Sparks,  how  is  he?    Remember 

1  He  was  married  July  19,  1838. 

2  Professor  Felton  visited  Europe  twice ;  first  in  1853-54,  and  again  in  1858,  each  time 
extending  his  journey  to  Greece.  The  fruits  of  his  travels  and  studies  on  these  visits  appear 
in  his  "Familiar  Letters  from  Europe,"  and  "Greece,  Ancient  and  Modern." 

8  June  1838,  Vol.  LXII.  pp.  186-214. 


JEt.27.]  JUDGE   STORY'S  FAME.  321 

me  to  him  and  all  friends,  not  omitting  Felton,  to  whom  I  send  all  possible 
felicitations.  Can  I  do  anything  for  you  here?  I  shall  see.Bentley  about 
your  books.     "Write  soon,  and  believe  me  as  ever  your  sincere  friend. 

Chas.  Sumner. 

P.  S.    As  I  fold  this,  it  occurs  to  me  that  it  will  reach  you  in  vacation.    A 
happy  vacation  to  you  with  all  my  heart ! 


TO  JUDGE  STORY. 

Alfred  Club,  June  27,  1838. 
My  dear  Judge, — I  cannot  recount  (time  and  paper  would  both  fail) 
the  civilities  and  kindness  which  I  have  received  in  London.  You  know 
I  have  learned  by  your  example  and  by  some  humble  experience  to  hus- 
band time;  and  yet,  with  all  my  exertions,  I  can  hardly  find  a  moment  of 
quiet  in  which  to  write  a  letter  or  read  a  book.  But  I  cannot  speak  of 
myself:  my  mind  is  full  of  the  things  I  hear  of  you  from  all  quarters. 
There  is  no  company  of  lawyers  or  judges,  where  your  name  is  not  spoken 
with  the  greatest  admiration.  Mr.  Justice  Vaughan  feels  toward  you  almost 
as  a  brother.  He  has  treated  me  with  distinguished  kindness;  invited 
me  to  his  country  seat,  and  to  go  the  circuit  with  him  in  his  own  carriage ; 
he  placed  me  on  the  beuch  in  Westminster  Hall,  —  the  bench  of  Tindal, 
Eldon,  and  Coke,  —  while  Sergeants  Wilde  and  Talfourd,  Atcherley1  and 
Andrews  argued  before  me.  He  has  expressed  the  greatest  admiration  of 
your  character.  At  dinner  at  his  house  I  met  Lord  Abinger,  the  Vice-Chan- 
cellor, Mr.  Justice  Patteson,  &c.  With  the  Vice-Chancellor  I  had  a  long 
conversation  about  you  and  your  works ;  he  said  that  a  few  days  ago  your 
"  Conflict  of  Laws  "  was  cited,  and  he  was  obliged  to  take  it  home,  and  to 
study  it  a  long  evening,  and  that  he  decided  a  case  on  the  authority  of  it. 
Shadwell  is  a  pleasant,  —  I  would  almost  say, — jolly  fellow.  With  Mr. 
Justice  Patteson  I  had  a  longer  conversation,  and  discussed  several  points  of 
comparative  jurisprudence;  he  is  a  very  enlightened  judge,  the  most  so,  I 
am  inclined  to  think,  after  Baron  Parke,  who  appears  to  be  facile  prlnceps.2 

1  David  Francis  Atcherley,  1783-1845.  The  "Annual  Register"  of  1845  (his  death 
was  on  July  6)  gives  an  account  of  his  professional  career. 

2  James  Parke,  1782-1868.  He  assisted  the  Crown  officers  in  the  prosecution  of  Queen 
Caroline;  was  made  a  judge  of  the  King's  Bench  in  1828,  and  of  the  Exchequer  in  1834; 
resigned  in  1855,  and  was  upon  his  resignation  raised  to  the  peerage  with  the  title  of  Baron 
"NVensleydale.  A  second  patent  was  issued  to  remove  a  disability  from  sitting  and  voting 
in  Parliament,  which  arose  from  the  limitation  of  the  first  patent  to  the  term  of  his  natural 
life.  See  reference  to  Baron  Parke's  subtlety  and  eccentricity  in  Arnould's  "Life  of  Lord 
Denman,"  Vol.  I.  p.  329,  Vol.  II.  p.  250.  In  1872,  Justice  Blackburn  referred  to  him  as 
"  probably  the  most  acute  and  accomplished  lawyer  this  country  ever  saw."  Brinsmead  v. 
Harrison,  Law  Reports,  7  C  P.  pp.  547,  554.  Sumner  during  this  visit  dined  several  times 
with  Baron  Parke.  Eight  years  later,  when  an  insurance  case  was  cited  in  the  Court  of 
Exchequer  from  "  Sumner's  Reports,"  the  Baron  asked,  "  Is  that  the  Mr.  Sumner  who  was 
once  in  England?"    An  affirmative  reply  being  made,  he  said,  "We  shall  not  consider 

vol.  i.  21 


322  MEMOIR  OF  CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1838. 

Patteson  spoke  of  your  works,  with  which  he  is  quite  familiar.  Abinger 
is  not  a  student,  I  think.  Coltman  was  an  ordinary  barrister  with  a  prac- 
tice of  not  more  than  five  hundred  pounds  a  year,  and  his  elevation  gave 
much  dissatisfaction ;  but  he  has  shown  himself  a  competent  judge.  Only 
last  evening  I  met  Baron  Parke  at  a  delightful  party  at  the  poet  Milman's;  * 
there  was  Taylor,  2  the  author  of  "  Philip  Van  Artevelde,"  Babbage,  Senior, 
Lord  Lansdowne,  Mrs.  Lister,8  Spring  Rice's  4  family,  and  Hayward  of  the 
"  Law  Magazine. "  Parke  inquired  after  you,  and  said  that  in  the  Privy  Coun- 
cil your  work  was  of  great  resort.  Baron  Parke  is  a  man  with  a  remarkable 
countenance,  intellectual  and  brilliant.  The  Solicitor- General 5  honored  me 
with  a  dinner,  where  I  received  the  kindest  attentions.  He  inquired  about 
you,  and  Mr.  Rand,6  as  did  the  Attorney-General.7  With  the  latter  I  had 
a  great  deal  of  conversation  (for  several  hours),  and  he  has  asked  me  to 
dinner  ten  days  ahead ;  all  invitations  are  for  a  long  time  ahead.  I  have 
just  been  obliged  to  decline  a  subsequent  invitation  from  Lord  Denman  for 
the  same  day. 

It  would  be  impossible  for  me  to  give  you  a  regular  account  of  the  persons 
I  see.  I  may  say  that  I  am  in  the  way  of  seeing  everybody  I  desire  to  meet ; 
and  all  without  any  effort  on  my  part.  Most  of  the  judges  I  personally 
know,  and  almost  all  the  eminent  barristers.  When  I  enter  Westminster 
Hall,  I  have  a  place  (I  decline  to  sit  on  the  bench)  in  the  Sergeants'  row  of 
the  Common  Pleas,  with  Talfourd  and  Andrews  and  Wilde;  or  in  the  Queen's 

it  entitled  to  the  less  attention  because  reported  by  a  gentleman  whom  we  all  knew  and 
respected."  Sumner,  when  visiting  England  in  1857,  received  courtesies  from  Baron 
Wensleydale. 

1  Rev.  Henry  Hart  Milman,  1791-1868.  After  this  period  he  was  better  known  as 
historian  than  as  poet.  In  1849  he  became  Dean  of  St.  Paul's.  Sumner,  when  visiting 
England  in  1857,  renewed  his  acquaintance  with  the  Dean. 

2  Henry  Taylor,  born  about  1800;  author  of  "  The  Statesman,"  and  other  works  in  poetry 
and  prose.  He  has  been  for  some  years  one  of  the  senior  clerks  of  the  colonial  office.  He 
married,  in  1839,  a  daughter  of  Lord  Monteagle  (Thomas  Spring  Rice). 

8  Mrs.  Lister  (Maria  Theresa),  a  sister  of  Lord  Clarendon,  was  first  married  to  Thomas 
Henry  Lister,  who  died  in  1842.  She  married,  in  1844,  Sir  George  Cornewall  Lewis,  and 
died  in  1865.  She  is  the  author  of  "Lives  of  the  Friends  and  Contemporaries  of  Lord 
Chancellor  Clarendon." 

4  Thomas  Spring  Rice,  1790-1866.  He  represented  Limerick  in  Parliament  from  1820 
to  1832,  and  Cambridge  from  1832  to  1839;  was  Under-Secretary  of  State  of  the  Home 
Department  in  1827;  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  from  1830  to  1834;  Secretary  of  State  for 
the  Colonies  in  1834;  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer  from  1835  to  September,  1839,  when  he 
was  appointed  Comptroller-General  of  the  Exchequer.  He  was  made  a  peer,  Sept.  5,  1839, 
with  the  title  of  Baron  Monteagle.  In  Parliament  he  advocated  liberal  measures.  He 
married  for  his  second  wife,  in  1841,  a  daughter  of  John  Marshall  of  Hallsteads.  In  1857, 
Sumner  met  Lord  and  Lady  Monteagle  in  London. 

6  Robert  Monsey  Rolfe,  1790-1868.  He  was  appointed  Solicitor- General  in  1834;  was 
succeeded  in  a  month,  on  a  change  of  government,  by  Sir  William  W.  Follett,  but  was  re- 
appointed six  months  later,  and  continued  to  hold  the  office  until  November,  1839,  when  he 
was  raised  to  the  Bench  of  the  Exchequer.  In  1850  he  became  Vice-Chancellor,  and  in  the 
same  year  was  created  Baron  Cranworth.  He  was  Lord  Chancellor  from  1852  to  1858,  and 
from  1865  to  1867.  Sumner  was  his  guest  at  dinner  several  times  in  1838,  and  was  enter- 
tained by  him  again  in  1857. 

6  Benjamin  Rand,  of  Boston. 

7  Sir  John  Campbell. 


JEt.  27.]  BALL  AT  FITZ WILLIAM'S.  323 

Counsel  row  of  the  Queen's  Bench,  with  Sir  F.  Pollock,  and  the  Attorney- 
General.  Then  I  know  a  vast  number  of  younger  men,  whom  I  meet  famil- 
iarly in  the  court  room  or  at  the  clubs.  Not  a  day  passes  without  my 
laying  up  some  knowledge  or  experience,  which  I  hope  to  turn  to  profit  here- 
after. In  another  walk  of  life,  I  am  already  acquainted  with  many  literary 
men.  Among  the  peers  I  have  received  great  kindness  from  Lords  Wharn- 
cliffs  (with  whom  I  have  dined),  Bexley,  Fitzwilliam,  and  Lansdowne.  I 
have  just  been  with  Lord  Lansdowne  *  in  his  study;  I  met  him  last  evening 
at  a  party.  He  had  previously  been  kind  enough  to  call  upon  me,  and  pre- 
sented me  with  a  card  for  his  great  ball  in  honor  of  the  Coronation,  and  also 
with  a  card  of  admission  to  the  Abbey;  the  latter  I  gave  away  to  a  friend,2 
as  I  was  already  provided  with  a  better  ticket,  being  that  of  a  privy-councillor. 
A  few  nights  ago  I  was  at  the  great  ball  at  Lord  Fitzwilliam's ;  I  started 
from  my  lodgings  at  eleven  o'clock,  and  such  was  the  crowd  of  carriages 
that  I  did  not  reach  the  door  till  one  o'clock  in  the  morning.  When  I  first 
saw  Lord  Fitzwilliam,  he  was  leading  the  Duchess  of  Gloucester  on  his  arm; 
the  Due  de  Nemours  came  in  immediately  after  me.  As  I  stood  in  the 
hall,  waiting  for  the  carriage  (it  rained  torrents),  I  seemed  in  a  land  of 
imagination,  and  not  of  reality;  carriages  drove  up  to  the  door  in  quick 
succession,  and  twenty  servants  cried  out  the  name  of  the  owner.  There 
was  the  elite  of  England's  nobility, — it  was  all  "lord"  or  "lady,"  except 
"  Spring  Rice;  "  the  only  untitled  name  I  heard  pronounced  was  that  of  the 
Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer.  I  stood  there  an  hour  with  dowager  duchesses 
pressing  about  me,  and  Lady  John  Russell,  in  delicate  health,  and  beautiful, 
waiting  with  submission  as  great  as  my  own. 

If  other  engagements  allow  me,  I  go  to  the  House  of  Lords  or  Commons. 
In  the  former  I  have  had  a  place  always  assigned  me  on  the  steps  of  the 
throne,  in  the  very  body  of  the  house,  where  I  remain  even  during  divisions. 
I  was  present  at  a  most  interesting  debate  on  the  20th  June,  on  the  affairs 
of  Spain.8  I  heard  Lyndhurst;  and  I  cannot  hesitate  to  pronounce  him  a 
master  orator.  All  my  prejudices  are  against  him ;  he  is  unprincipled  as  a 
politician,  and  as  a  man;  and  his  legal  reputation  has  sunk  very  much  by 

1  Lord  Henry  Petty,  third  Marquis  of  Lansdowne,  1780-1863.  He  was  the  son  of  Wil- 
liam, the  second  Earl  of  Shelburne  (who  is  honorably  identified  with  the  opposition  to  coer- 
cive measures  against  the  American  colonists).  He  became  a  successful  debater  in  the 
House  of  Commons;  was  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer,  1806-7;  Lord  President  of  the 
Council,  1830-41  and  1846-52.  He  was  an  enlightened  statesman ;  supported  the  abolition 
of  slavery,  and  Catholic  Emancipation.  He  was  the  friend  of  men  of  letters,  —  notably  of 
Macaulay.  Henry  Wheaton,  the  publicist,  introduced  Sumner  by  letter  to  Lord  Lans- 
d<  wne.  Sumner  received  attentions  at  Lansdowne  House  on  his  second  visit  to  England, 
in  1857. 

2  Ralph  Randolph  Wormeley,  afterwards  Rear-Admiral  of  the  British  Navy,  1785- 
1852. 

8  The  debate  of  Tuesday,  June  19, 1838,  in  the  House  of  Lords  upon  intervention  in  favor 
of  Don  Carlos,  is  reported  in  Hansard's  Parliamentary  Debates,  Third  Series,  Vol.  XLIII. 
pp.  806-867.  The  peers  who  spoke  at  length  were  the  Marquis  of  Londonderry,  Viscount 
Melbourne,  Lord  Lyndhurst,  Earl  of  Carnarvon,  Marquis  of  Lansdowne,  and  Duke  of  Wel- 
lington ;  the  Earls  of  Minto  and  Ripon  spoke  briefly. 


324  MEMOIR  OF   CHARLES  SUMNER.  [1838. 

the  reversal  of  his  judgment  in  the  case  of  Small  v.  Attwood,1  in  which  it 
is  said  Brougham  exerted  himself  with  superhuman  energy:  notwithstand- 
ing all  this,  Lyndhurst  charmed  me  like  a  siren.  His  manner  is  simple, 
clear,  and  direct,  enchaining  the  attention  of  all;  we  have  nobody  like 
him:  he  is  more  like  Otis2  than  any  other,  with  less  efflorescence,  if  I 
may  so  say,  and  more  force.  Wellington  is  plain  and  direct,  and  full  of 
common-sense;  all  listen  with  the  greatest  respect.  Brougham  is  various, 
—  always  at  home,  whether  for  argument  or  laughter.  The  style  of  debate 
is  different  in  the  Lords  and  in  the  Commons ;  in  the  latter  I  have  heard 
the  two  discussions  on  the  Irish  Corporation  Bill. 

I  have  alluded  to  my  opportunities  of  seeing  various  shades  of  life  and 
opinion.  I  may  add  that  I  know  men  of  all  parties.  With  Lord  Wharn- 
cliffe  I  have  talked  a  great  deal  about  toryism  and  the  ballot ;  while  Lord 
Lansdowne  expressed  to  me  this  morning  his  strong  aversion  to  the  King 
of  Hanover  as  King  of  England.  Sir  Robert  H.  Inglis,8  one  of  the 
best  men  I  ever  met,  has  shown  me  great  kindness;  I  breakfasted  with 
him,  and  then  partook  of  a  collation  with  the  Bishop  of  London.  At  the 
Solicitor-General's  I  heard  politics  much  discussed ;  and  Mr.  Duckworth  *  of 
the  Chancery  Bar,  in  going  home  with  me,  told  me  in  so  many  words  that 
he  was  a  republican.  Opportunities  I  have  also  of  meeting  the  best  and  most 
philosophical  of  the  radicals.  And  now,  my  dear  Judge,  do  not  believe  that 
I  have  given  this  long  detail  of  personalities  and  egoism,  from  vanity;  but 
in  the  freedom  of  friendship,  and  because  I  have  no  other  way  of  letting 
you  know  what  I  am  about.  I  must  reserve  for  conversation  after  my  return 
my  impressions  of  the  bench  and  bar,  of  politics  and  society.  Let  me  say, 
now,  that  nothing  which  I  have  yet  seen  has  shaken  my  love  of  country,  or 
my  willingness  to  return  to  my  humble  labors.  I  am  grateful  for  the  oppor- 
tunities afforded  me,  and  congratulate  myself  that  I  have  come  abroad  at  an 
age  when  I  may  rank  among  men,  and  be  received  as  an  equal  into  all 
society;  and  also,  when,  from  comparative  youth,  I  may  expect  many  years 
of  joyous  retrospection,  and  also  of  doing  good.  Your  advice  and  friendship  I 
rely  upon ;  and  you  know  that  your  constant  kindness  has  been  my  greatest 
happiness.  I  hope  Mrs.  Story  is  well;  I  shall  write  her  an  account  of  some- 
thing that  may  be  interesting ;  but  imagine  that  every  moment  of  my  time 
is  absorbed,  and  my  mind  almost  in  a  fever.  I  have  averaged,  probably, 
Jive  invitations  a  day.     To-morrow  is  the  Coronation.5     That  I  shall  see. 

1  Clark  and  Finnelly  (House  of  Lords),  Vol.  VI.  pp.  232-531.  The  Lords  read  their 
opinions  on  March  22,  1838.  The  case  involved  the  right  to  rescind  a  contract  on  account 
of  fraud. 

2  Harrison  Gray  Otis,  1765-1848 ;  a  prominent  leader  of  the  Federal  party ;  Mayor  of 
Boston;  United  States  Senator  from  Massachusetts.     Ante,  p.  83. 

8  Sir  Robert  H.  Inglis,  1786-1855.  He  entered  Parliament  in  1824,  and  represented  the 
University  of  Oxford  from  1829  to  1853.  He  was  a  finished  scholar,  and  much  identified 
with  literary  and  charitable  associations.  Sumner  dined  with  him  several  times,  and  attended 
parties  at  his  house,  7  Bedford  Square. 

4  Samuel  Duckworth,  M.  P.  for  Leicester,  brother-in-law  of  Mr.  Justice  Coltman. 

5  A  letter  to  Mrs.  Story  giving  an  account  of  the  Coronation  on  June  28  has  not  been 
found.  It  is  referred  to  in  Judge  Story's  letter  to  Sumner  of  August  11,  1838.  "  Story's 
Life  and  Letters,"  Vol.  II.  pp.  297-300. 


Mr.  27.J  CHARACTER  OF  THE  ENGLISH  BAR.  825 

Unsolicited  on  my  part,  I  have  received  two  tickets;   and  kind  offers  of 
others.     Thanks  for  William's  letter. 

As  ever,  affectionately  yours,  C.  S. 

P.  S.   I  shall  write  you  about  the  "  Law  Magazine  "  and  Hayward,  whom 
I  know  intimately.     He  is  a  curious  fellow,  of  much  talent. 


TO  PROFESSOR  SIMON  GREENLEAF,  CAMBRIDGE. 

Travellers'  Club,1  July  1,  1838. 

My  dear  Friend,  —  I  have  thought  of  you  often,  but  particularly  on 
three  occasions  lately;  and  what  do  you  think  they  were?  When,  at  a  colla- 
tion, the  Bishop  of  London  asked  me  to  take  wine  with  him;  when  I  was 
placed  on  the  bench  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas  in  Westminster  Hall; 
and  lastly,  when,  at  the  superb  entertainment  of  the  Marchioness  of  Lans- 
downe,  I  stood  by  Prince  Esterhazy  2  and  tried  in  vain  to  count  the  pearls 
and  diamonds  on  the  front  of  his  coat  and  in  his  cap.  You  will  not 
remember  it ;  but  it  was  you  who  first  told  me  of  the  extravagant  display 
of  this  man.  That  I  should  call  you  to  my  mind  on  the  two  other  occasions 
you  will  readily  understand.  And  so  here  I  am  amidst  the  law,  the  politics, 
the  literature,  and  the  splendors  of  London.  Every  day  teems  with  inter 
ests;  and  I  may  say,  indeed,  every  moment.  Minutes  are  now  to  me 
as  valuable  as  Esterhazy's  diamonds.  Imagine  me  in  Westminster  Hall 
where  I  sit  and  hear  proceedings  and  converse  with  the  very  counsel  who  are 
engaged  in  them.  I  hardly  believe  my  eyes  and  ears  at  times ;  I  think  it  is 
all  a  cheat,  and  that  I  am  not  in  Westminster  Hall,  at  the  sacred  hearthstone 
of  the  English  law.  With  many  of  the  judges  I  have  become  personally 
acquainted,  as  well  as  with  many  of  the  lawyers.  I  have  received  cordial  invi- 
tations to  go  most  all  the  circuits ;  which  I  shall  take  I  have  not  yet  deter- 
mined. Mr.  Justice  Vaughan  says  that  I  shall  take  the  coif  before  I  return. 
I  cannot  express  to  you  how  kind  they  all  are.  You  know  that  I  have  no 
claims  upon  their  attentions ;  and  yet  wherever  I  go  I  find  the  most  consider- 
ate kindness.  They  have  chosen  me  as  an  honorary  member  of  three  differ- 
ent clubs,  in  one  of  which  I  now  write  this  letter. 

I  know  nothing  that  has  given  me  greater  pleasure  than  the  elevated  char- 
acter of  the  profession  as  I  find  it,  and  the  relation  of  comity  and  brother- 
hood between  the  bench  and  the  bar.  The  latter  are  really  the  friends  and 
helpers  of  the  judges.  Good-will,  graciousness,  and  good  manners  prevail 
constantly.  And  then  the  duties  of  the  bar  are  of  the  most  elevated  charac- 
ter.    I  do  not  regret  that  my  lines  have  been  cast  in  the  places  where  they 

1  In  Pall  Mall;  founded  soon  after  1814  specially  for  the  convenience  of  Englishmen 
who  had  travelled,  and  of  foreigners  sojourning  in  London.  It  was  frequented  by  Talley- 
rand during  his  residence  in  England. 

2  Paul  Anthony  Esterhazy  de  Galantha,  1786-1866 ;  a  Hungarian  nobleman,  who  was 
the  proprietor  of  vast  estates,  then  Austrian  Minister  at  London ;  his  loyalty  to  the  national 
cause,  in  1848,  led  to  the  sequestration  of  his  possessions. 


326  MEMOIR  OF   CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1838 

are ;  but  I  cannot  disguise  the  feeling  akin  to  envy  with  which  I  regard  the 
noble  position  of  the  English  barrister,  with  the  intervention  of  the  attorney 
to  protect  hirn  from  the  feelings  and  prejudices  of  his  client,  and  with  a  code 
of  professional  morals  which  makes  his  daily  duties  a  career  of  the  most  hon- 
orable employment.  Grateful  I  am  that  I  am  an  American ;  for  I  would  not 
give  up  the  priceless  institutions  of  my  country  (abused  and  perverted  as  they 
are),  the  purity  of  morals  in  society,  and  the  universal  competence  which 
prevails,  in  exchange  for  all  that  I  have  seen  abroad;  but  still  I  see  many 
things  in  other  countries  which  I  should  be  glad  to  have  adopted  among  us. 
Let  us  then  not  sigh  that  we  are  not  Europeans,  but  cling  to  our  own  insti- 
tutions and  model  of  society,  and  endeavor  to  engraft  upon  it  all  that  is 
good  and  fitting  in  other  countries.     Such  infamous  professional  sentiments 

as  I  have  heard  avowed  by  lawyers  at  our  bar,  and  by  a  man  like ,  would 

bring  a  brand  upon  an  English  lawyer  as  bad  as  Cain's.  I  remember  here, 
with  a  thrill  of  pleasure,  the  beautiful  lessons  on  this  subject  contained  in 
your  Inaugural  Discourse.  I  long  for  an  opportunity  of  discussing  this  sub- 
ject with  you  face  to  face,  and  pouring  out  to  you  the  various  results  of  my 
observation.  In  a  hurried  letter,  written  while  my  mind  is  distracted  by 
various  excitements,  I  cannot  go  into  detail.  All  this  I  must  reserve  for  the 
"  thousand  and  one  "  nights  after  my  return,  when  I  hope  to  fight  all  my 
battles  o'er  again;  to  conduct  you  to  Westminster  Hall;  to  point  out  its  vast 
proportions,  its  heaven-aspiring  roof ,  its  deep  echo,  its  prints  of  antiquity; 
to  enter  the  different  court-rooms,  small  in  size  but  full  of  reminiscences, 
which  open  on  one  side  of  the  great  hall;  to  gaze  on  the  impressive  figures 
before  us,  in  judicial  robes  and  wigs,  seeming  rather  the  personation  of  the 
law  than  flesh  and  blood;  or,  perhaps,  I  may  in  my  story  marshal  you  to  the 
Coronation,  admire  its  gorgeousness,  and  dream  again  of  feudal  glories;  or 
enter  the  salons  of  some  of  the  fashionable  and  elevated,  and  see  again  the 
array  of  beauty  and  bravery.  But  I  am  dreaming.  When  will  that  future 
come?  Believe  I  am  more  than  happy  at  present;  but  I  look  forward  with  a 
thrill  to  the  day  that  shall  once  more  let  me  see  my  friends,  and  in  the  enjoy- 
ment of  quiet  and  confiding  friendship  give  me  the  truest  happiness.  Thanks 
for  your  letter  (I  have  forgotten  the  date,  — 1848,  I  think)  in  which  you 
have  looked  into  the  future.  I  have  much  to  say  on  that  subject.  But  how 
can  I  write  it  all? 

Affectionate  recollections  to  Dane  Hall,  and  to  Mrs.  Greenleaf  and  all 
your  family,  and  to  yourself. 

Chas.  Sumner. 


TO  GEORGE  S.  HILLARD. 

London,  July  3,  1838. 

My  dear  Hillard,  — You  love  literature  better  than  law,  and  I  know 

will  be  better  pleased  to  hear  of  the  men  who  move  in  the  quiet  walks  where 

haunt  the  poet,  the  author,  and  the  artist,  than  of  the  gowned  and  wigged 

followers  of  the  law.    Of  judges  and  lawyers  I  see  enough  daily;  much,  also, 


jEt.  27.]  WALTER  SAVAGE  LANDOR.  827 

of  politicians ;  perhaps  I  may  say  the  same  of  literary  men.  I  have  already 
written  you  some  hasty  lines  on  some  of  the  wits  I  meet  at  clubs.  There  are 
others  and  worthier  that  I  have  met  under  other  circumstances.  There  is 
Walter  Savage  Landor.1  I  know  you  admire  his  genius.  I  first  met  him  at 
Air.  Kenyon's;2  he  was  there  at  dinner  with  a  considerable  party.  I  could 
not  dine  there,  as  I  was  already  engaged  for  the  same  evening  with  the  So- 
licitor-General ;  but  I  was  very  kindly  asked  to  stop  there  a  little  while  till 
they  went  down  to  dinner.  Landor  was  dressed  in  a  heavy  frock-coat  of 
snuff  color,  trousers  of  the  same  color,  and  boots;  indeed,  he  wore  a  morning 
dress,  which  one  is  more  inclined  to  notice  here  than  among  us  where  the 
distinction  between  a  morning  and  evening  dress  is  less  imperiously  settled. 
He  is  about  fifty-five,  with  an  open  countenance,  firm  and  decided,  and  a 
head  gray  and  inclining  to  baldness.  We  got  into  conversation;  dinner 
was  announced,  and  Landor  and  myself  walked  down  stairs  together.  In 
the  hall  I  bade  him  "good  evening."  "But  where  are  you  going?" 
said  he;  "  you  dine  with  us,  surely."  I  then  explained  to  him  the  neces- 
sity I  was  under  of  dining  elsewhere;  when  he  asked  where  he  should 
call  upon  me.  I  told  him  that  I  would  rather,  with  his  permission,  have 
the  honor  of  calling  upon  him  (at  Lady  Blessington's).  But  our  host  at 
once  arranged  the  difficulty  by  inviting  us  both  to  breakfast  a  few  days 
ahead.  At  breakfast  he  was  in  the  same  dress  as  before.  I  was  excessively 
stupid;  for  I  had  been  up  at  Lord  Fitzwilliam's  ball  till  four  o'clock, 
and  the  breakfast  was  very  early.  Landor's  conversation  was  not  varied, 
but  it  was  animated  and  energetic  in  the  extreme.  We  crossed  each  other 
several  times:  he  called  Napoleon  the  weakest,  littlest  man  in  history; 
whereas  you  know  my  opinion  to  the  contrary.  He  considers  Shakspeare 
and  Washington  the  two  greatest  men  that  ever  lived,  and  Cromwell  one  of 
the  greatest  sovereigns.  Conversation  turned  upon  Washington ;  and  I  was 
asked  why  he  was  still  suffered  to  rest  in  the  humble  tomb  of  Mt.  Vernon. 
I  then  mentioned  the  resolution  of  Congress  to  remove  his  body  to  the  Capi- 
tol, and  the  refusal  to  allow  it  to  be  done  on  the  part  of  his  legal  representa- 
tives. In  making  this  statement,  I  spoke  of  the  "ashes  of  Washington," 
saying  "that  his  ashes  still  reposed  at  Mt.  Vernon."  Landor  at  once 
broke  upon  me,  with  something  like  fierceness:  "  Why  will  you,  Mr.  Sum- 
ner, who  speak  with  such  force  and  correctness,  employ  a  word  which,  in  the 
present  connection,  is  not  English?  Washington's  body  was  never  burnt; 
there  are  no  ashes,  —  say,  rather,  remains.''1  I  tell  this  stoiy,  compliment 
and  all,  just  as  it  occurred,  that  you  may  better  understand  this  eccentric 
m?n.     I  think  we  were  all  jaded  and  stupid,  for  the  conversation  rather 

«•  1775-1864.     In  1856,  Mr.  Hillard  edited  "  Selections  "  from  Landor's  writings. 

2  John  Kenyon,  1787-1856 ;  the  inheritor  of  a  large  fortune,  and  friend  of  many  men  of 
letters;  the  author  of  UA  Day  at  Tivoli,"  and  other  poems.  He  distributed  his  for- 
tune among  eighty  legatees,  among  whom  were  Elizabeth  and  Robert  Browning  and  Barry 
Cornwall.  Several  notes  from  Kenyon  to  Sumner  are  preserved ;  one  from  4  Harley  Place, 
of  June  15, 1838,  saying:  "You  are  hardly  a  stranger  among  us;  you  were  hardly  a  stran- 
ger when  you  had  been  here  only  three  days;  "  another,  inviting  him  to  meet  Southey ;  an- 
other inviting  him  to  dine,  Jan.  19,  1839 ;  and  another  regretting  a  previous  engagement 
of  Sumner,  and  adding,  "  I  give  you  ten  days'  notice,  and  cannot  have  you." 


328  MEMOIR  OF  CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1838. 

flagged.  Forster 1  was  there,  whom  you  well  know  as  the  great  writer  in 
the  "  Examiner  "  and  the  author  of  the  "  Lives."  He  is  a  very  able  fellow, 
and  is  yet  young.  Landor  takes  to  him  very  much.  His  conversation  is 
something  like  his  writing.  I  had  a  good  deal  of  talk  with  him.  You  must 
know,  also,  that  our  host,  Mr.  Kenyon,  is  a  bosom  friend  of  Southey  and 
Wordsworth,  and  is  no  mean  poet  himself,  besides  being  one  of  the  most 
agreeable  men  I  ever  met. 

Dining  at  Lord  Lansdowne's  a  few  evenings  since,  T  met  another  literary 
man,  whom  I  saw  with  the  greatest  pleasure.  There  was  Lord  Lansdowne, 
with  the  blue  ribbon  of  the  garter  across  his  breast  and  the  star  on  his  coat, 
—  kind,  bland,  amiable ;  Lady  Lansdowne,  —  neat,  elegant,  lady-like.  Next 
me  was  the  daughter,  about  nineteen,  — pale  and  wan,  but,  I  am  glad  to  say, 
extremely  well-informed.  I  conversed  with  her  during  a  long  dinner,  and  we 
touched  topics  of  books,  fashion,  coronation,  &c. ;  and  I  found  her  to  possess 
attainments  which  certainly  do  her  honor.  She  was  kind  enough  to  mention 
that  she  and  her  mother  had  been  reading  together  the  work  of  a  countryman 
of  mine,  Mr.  Prescott;  that  they  admired  it  very  much,  and  that  the  extraor- 
dinary circumstances  under  which  it  was  written  2  made  them  take  a  great 
interest  in  the  author  and  desire  to  see  him.  During  the  dinner,  I  was 
addressed  across  the  table,  which  was  a  large  round  one,  by  a  gentleman  with 
black  hair  and  round  face,  with  regard  to  the  United  States.  The  question  was 
put  with  distinctness  and  precision,  and  in  a  voice  a  little  sharp  and  above 
the  ordinary  key.  I  did  not  know  the  name  of  the  gentleman  for  some  time ; 
till,  by  and  by,  I  heard  him  addressed  by  some  one,  —  "  Macaulay."  I  at  once 
asked  Lord  Shelburne,  who  sat  on  my  right,  if  that  was  T.  B.  M.,  just  re- 
turned from  India;  and  was  told  that  it  was.8  At  table,  we  had  considerable 
conversation ;  and,  on  passing  to  the  drawing-room,  it  was  renewed.  He  is 
now  nearly  or  about  forty,  rather  short,  and  with  a  belly  of  unclassical  pro- 
portions. His  conversation  was  rapid,  brilliant,  and  powerful;  by  far  the 
best  of  any  in  the  company,  though  Mr.  Senior  was  there,  and  several  others 
of  no  mean  powers.  I  expect  other  opportunities  of  meeting  him.  He  says 
that  he  shall  abandon  politics,  not  enter  Parliament,  and  addict  himself  en- 
tirely to  literature. 

I  may  say  here,  that  among  acquaintances  you  never  hear  the  word 
' '  Mr. ' '  Lawyers  at  the  bar  always  address  each  other  without  that  prefix. 
It  is  always  "  Talfourd,"  "Wilde,"  "Follett;"  and  at  table,  "Landor," 
"  Forster,"  "  Macaulay,"  "  Senior,"  &c.  I  did  not  hear  the  word  "Mr." 
at  Lord  Lansdowne's  table,  except  when  he  addressed  me, — a  stranger. 
My  time  is  hurried  and  my  paper  is  exhausted,  but  I  have  not  told  you  of 
the  poet  Milman,  and  the  beautiful  party  I  met   at  his  house,  —  Lord 

1  John  Forster,  1812-76 ;  contributor  to  reviews,  and  author  of  the  biographies  of  Oliver 
Goldsmith,  Charles  Dickens,  Walter  Savage  Landor,  and  Dean  Swift  (the  last  incomplete). 

2  Referring  to  the  author's  loss  of  sight. 

8  1800-1859.  Macaulay  arrived  from  India  in  June,  1838,  and  was  returned  to  Parlia- 
ment from  Edinburgh  the  same  year,  and  served  till  1847,  when  he  lost  a  re-election.  He 
was  returned  again  in  1852,  and  served  till  his  resignation  in  1856.  Sumner  met  him  at 
Lord  Belper's  in  1857,  and  wrote  of  him  as  "  so  altered  that  I  did  not  know  him.'; 


Mt.  27.]  THE  OLD   BAILEY.  329 

Lansdowne,  "Van  Artevelde "  Taylor,  Babbage,  Senior,  Mrs.  Villiers, 
and  Mrs.  Lister,  who  talked  of  Mrs.  Newton1  with  the  most  affectionate 
regard;  nor  of  the  grand  fete  at  Lansdowne  House,  where  I  saw  all  the  aris- 
tocracy of  England;  nor  of  the  Coronation;  nor  of  Lord  Fitzwilliam's  ball; 
nor  of  the  twenty  or  thirty  interesting  persons  I  meet  every  day.  This  very 
week  I  have  declined  more  invitations  than  I  have  accepted ;  and  among  those 
that  I  declined  were  invitations  to  dinner  from  Lord  Denman,  Lord  Bexley, 
Mr.  Senior,  Mr.  Mackenzie,  &c. 

As  ever,  affectionately  yours,  C.  S 


TO  JUDGE  STORY. 

London,  July  12,  1838. 
My  dear  Judge,  —  I  have  now  been  in  London  more  than  a  month;  but 
have  not  seen  the  Tower  or  the  Tunnel,  the  British  Museum  or  the  theatres, 
the  General  Post-Office  or  Westminster  Abbey  (except  as  dressed  for  the 
Coronation) :  I  have  seen  none  of  the  sights  or  shows  at  which  strangers 
stare.  How,  then,  have  I  passed  this  time,  till  late  midnight?  In  seeing 
society,  men,  courts,  and  parliaments.  These  will  soon  vanish  with  the  sea- 
son; while  "  London's  column  "  will  still  point  to  the  skies,  and  the  venera- 
ble Abbey  still  hold  its  great  interests,  when  men  and  society  have  dispersed. 
In  a  few  days,  this  immense  city  will  be  deserted;  the  equipages  which 
throng  it  will  disappear;  and  fashion,  and  wealth,  and  rank,  and  title  will 
all  hie  away  to  the  seclusion  of  the  country.  Have  I  not  done  well,  then,  to 
"  catch  the  Cynthia  of  the  minute  "?  One  day,  I  have  sat  in  the  Common 
Pleas  at  Westminster;  then  the  Queen's  Bench  and  Exchequer;  then  I  have 
visited  the  same  courts  at  their  sittings  at  Guildhall;  I  have  intruded 
into  the  quiet  debate  at  Lincoln's  Inn  before  the  Chancellor;  have  passed 
to  the  Privy  Council  (the  old  Cockpit);  have  sat  with  my  friend,  Mr. 
Senior,2  as  a  Master  in  Chancery;  with  Mr.  Justice  Vaughan  at  Chambers 
in  Serjeants'  Inn;  and  lastly,  yesterday,  I  sat  at  the  Old  Bailey.  This 
last  sitting,  of  course,  is  freshest  in  my  mind;  and  I  must  tell  you  some- 
thing of  it.  Besides  the  aldermen,  there  were  Justices  Littledale,  Park 
(James  Allan),  and  Vaughan.  I  was  assigned  a  seat  on  the  bench,  and 
heard  a  trial  for  arson,  in  which  Payne  (Carrington  &  Payne)  was  the  coun- 
sel in  defence.  I  was  waited  upon  by  the  sheriff,  and  invited  to  dine 
with  the  judges  and  magistrates,   at  the   Old  Bailey.     I  was  quite  dull, 

1  Ante,  p.  186. 

2  Nassau  William  Senior,  1790-1864.  He  was  appointed  Master  in  Chancery,  in  1836. 
His  writings,  on  topics  of  Political  Economy,  are  various ;  and  he  was  for  several  years 
professor  of  that  science  at  Oxford.  Among  his  publications  was  one  upon  "American 
Slavery,"  which  reviewed  Sumner's  speech,  of  May  19  and  20,  1856,  on  "The  Crime 
against  Kansas,"  and  the  personal  assault  which  followed  it,  being  a  reprint  with  additions 
of  his  article  in  the  "Edinburgh  Review,"  April,  1855,  Vol.  CI.  pp.  293-331.  In  1857  they 
met,  both  in  Paris  and  afterwards  in  London,  and  enjoyed  greatly  each  other's  society. 
Mr.  Senior  invited  Sumner  to  dine  several  times  in  1838-39. 


330  MEMOIR  OF   CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1838 

and  really  ill  (being  beaten  out  by  dining  in  society,  and  often  breakfast- 
ing and  lunching  in  the  same  way  every  day  for  more  than  a  month) ;  but 
they  treated  me  very  kindly :  and  Sir  Peter  Laurie,  the  late  Lord  Mayor, 
proposed  my  health  in  a  very  complimentary  speech,  in  the  course  of  which 
he  "hoped  that  he  might  have  the  honor  of  calling  me  his  friend,"  &c. 
I  rose  at  once,  and  replied  in  a  plain  way,  without  a  single  premeditated 
thought  or  expression,  and  found  myself  very  soon  interrupted  by  "  hears;  " 
and  Littledale  and  Park  and  Vaughan  all  gave  me  more  hearty  applause. 
As  I  sat  down,  Vaughan  cried  to  me:  "  Sumner,  you've  hit  them  between 
wind  and  water!  "  I  should  not  omit  to  mention  that  I  simply  expressed, 
in  my  remarks,  the  deep  affection  which  all  educated  Americans  owe  to 
England ;  that  we  look  upon  her  with  a  filial  regard ;  that  in  her  church- 
yards are  the  bones  of  our  fathers:  and  then  I  touched  upon  the  interest 
which  I,  a  professional  man,  felt  in  being  permitted  to  witness  the  admin- 
istration of  justice  here;  and  concluded  by  proposing  the  health  of  the  judges 
of  England,  —  "always  honorable,  impartial,  and  learned."  Mr.  Charles 
Phillips1  (the  notorious  Irish  orator),  was  at  the  table.  I  wish  I  were  at 
home,  to  give  you  personal  sketches  of  the  lawyers  and  judges.  My  heart 
overflows  when  I  attempt  to  speak  of  them;  their  courtesy  and  high  sense 
of  honor  you  have  never  overrated.  The  bench  and  the  bar  seem  to  be  fellow- 
laborers  in  the  administration  of  justice.  Among  the  judges  for  talent,  at- 
tainment, and  judicial  penetration,  the  palm  seems  to  be  conceded  to  Baron 
Parke,  —  a  man  of  about  fifty  or  fifty-five,  with  a  very  keen,  penetrating, 
chestnut  eye,  and  an  intellectual  countenance.  At  his  table  I  met  the 
chief  barristers  of  the  Western  Circuit,  —  Erie,  Manning,  Bompas,  Rogers, 
Douglas,  &c. ;  and  they  have  invited  me,  very  kindly,  to  visit  their  circuit. 
At  table,  after  Lady  Parke  had  left,  I  put  to  the  Baron  and  the  bar  the 
question  on  which  you  have  expressed  an  opinion,  in  the  second  volume  of 
my  "  Reports,"  2  with  regard  to  the  power  of  a  jury  to  disobey  the  instruc- 
tions of  the  court  on  a  question  of  law  in  rendering  a  general  verdict;  and 
on  which,  you  know,  Baldwin  8  has  expressed  an  opinion  opposite  to  yours. 
Parke  at  once  exclaimed,  and  Erie  and  Bompas  chimed  in,  that  there  was 
no  possible  ground  of  question;  that  a  court  should  instruct  a  jury  to  take 
the  law  absolutely  as  it  is  laid  down  from  the  bench;  and  that  a  jury  should 
not  presume,  because  it  has  the  physical  power,  to  pronounce  upon  the  law. 
I  was  quite  amused  to  see  how  instantaneously  they  all  gave  judgment  in 
the  matter,  and  what  astonishment  they  expressed  when  I  assured  them  that 
some  persons  held  otherwise  in  America. 

I  have  recently  breakfasted  with  Lord  Denman,  as  I  was  so  engaged  as 
not  to  be  able  to  accept  his  invitation  to  dinner.  Bland,  noble  Denman !  On 
the  bench  he  is  the  perfect  model  of  a  judge,  —  full  of  dignity  and  decision, 

1  1787-1859.  He  was  born  in  Sligo ;  removed  to  London  in  1821,  where  he  was  often 
counsel  in  criminal  trials,  and  became,  in  1846,  Commissioner  of  the  Insolvent  Debtors' 
Court. 

2  United  States  v.  Battiste,  2  Sumner's  Reports,  p.  240. 
8  United  States  v.  Wilson,  Baldwin's  Reports,  p.  78. 


^t.  27.]  DENMAN  AND  BROUGHAM.  331 

and  yet  with  mildness  and  suavity  which  cannot  fail  to  charm.  His  high 
personal  character  and  his  unbending  morals  have  given  an  elevated  tone  to 
the  bar,  and  make  one  forget  the  want,  perhaps,  of  thorough  learning.  In 
conversation  he  is  plain,  unaffected,  and  amiable.  I  talked  with  him  much 
of  Lord  Brougham.  He  assured  me  that  Brougham  was  one  of  the  greatest 
judges  that  ever  sat  on  the  woolsack,  and  that  posterity  would  do  him  jus- 
tice when  party  asperities  had  died  away.1  (Of  Lord  B.  by-and-by. )  I 
told  Lord  Denman  the  opinion  you  had  formed  of  Lord  B.,  from  reading  his 
judgments ;  and  his  Lordship  said  that  he  was  highly  gratified  to  hear  it. 
Denman  called  the  wig  "the  silliest  thing  in  England,"  and  hoped  to  be 
able  to  get  rid  of  it.  He  is  trying  to  carry  a  bill  through  the  Lords,  allowing 
witnesses  to  affirm  in  cases  of  conscientious  scruples,2  and  inquired  of  me 
about  the  practice  in  America ;  but  he  said  he  could  not  venture  to  allude  to 
any  American  usage  in  the  Lords,  for  it  would  tell  against  his  measure. 
Think  of  this !  I  must  not  omit  to  mention  that  Lord  Denman  has  invited 
me  to  visit  him  on  the  Home  Circuit,  where  I  shall  certainly  go,  as  also  to 
the  Western;  and  to  the  North  Welsh  Circuit,  —  perhaps  also  the  Oxford; 
and,  the  greatest  of  all,  the  Northern.  To  all  of  these  I  have  had  most 
cordial  invitations. 

I  have  heard  Lord  Brougham  despatch  several  cases  in  the  Privy  Council ; 
and  one  or  two  were  matters  with  which  I  was  entirely  familiar.  I  think  I 
understand  the  secret  of  his  power  and  weakness  as  a  judge;  and  nothing 
that  I  have  seen  or  heard  tends  to  alter  the  opinion  I  had  formed.  As  a 
judge,  he  is  electric  in  the  rapidity  of  his  movements :  he  looks  into  the  very 
middle  of  the  case  when  counsel  are  just  commencing,  and  at  once  says, 
"  There  is  such  a  difficulty  [mentioning  it]  to  which  you  must  address 
yourself;  and,  if  you  can't  get  over  that,  I  am  against  you."  In  this  way 
he  saves  time,  and  gratifies  his  impatient  spirit;  but  he  offends  counsel. 
Here  is  the  secret.  I  have  heard  no  other  judge  (except  old  Allan  Park) 
interrupt  counsel  in  the  least.  In  the  mean  time,  Brougham  is  restless  at 
table,  writes  letters;  and,  as  Baron  Parke  assured  me  (Parke  sits  in  the  Privy 
Council),  wrote  his  great  article8  in  the  "Edinburgh  Review"  for  April 
last  at  the  table  of  the  Privy  Council.  I  once  saw  the  usher  bring  to  him  a 
parcel  of  letters,  probably  from  the  mail,  — I  should  think  there  must  have 
been  twenty-five,  —  and  he  opened  and  read  them,  and  strewed  the  floor 
about  him  with  envelopes ;  and  still  the  argument  went  on.  And  very  soon 
Brougham  pronounced  the  judgment  in  rapid,  energetic,  and  perspicuous 
language,  —  better  than  I  have  heard  from  any  other  judge  on  the  bench. 
I  have  already  quoted  the  opinion  of  Denman.     Barristers  with  whom  I 

1  See  "  Life  of  Lord  Denman,"  Vol.  I.  p.  257,  for  Denman's  opinion  expressed  in  the 
House  of  Commons,  Dec.  16,  1830,  in  relation  to  Brougham's  probable  success  as  an  equity 
judge. 

2  He  brought  the  bill  forward,  first,  in  1838,  again  in  1842,  and  again  in  1849,  —  each 
time  without  success.  The  measure  became  a  law  in  1854,  — the  year  of  his  death,  —  by 
virtue  of  the  twentieth  clause  of  the  Common  Law  Procedure  Act,  which  was  extended  to 
other  courts  b}'  later  acts.     "  Life  of  Lord  Denman,"  Vol.  II.  pp.  72,  106,  216,  217. 

«  Ante  p.  318. 


332  MEMOIK  OF   CHARLES   SUMNER.  [183& 

have  spoken  have  not  conceded  to  him  the  position  accorded  by  the  Lord 
Chief-Justice,  but  still  have  placed  him  high.  Mylne,  the  reporter,1  an  able 
fellow,  says  that  he  is  infinitely  superior  to  Lyndhurst,  and  also  to  Lord 
Eldon,  in  his  latter  days.  In  the  Lords  I  have  heard  Brougham,  —  with 
his  deep,  husky  notes,  with  his  wonderful  command  of  language,  which  keeps 
you  in  a  state  of  constant  excitement.  I  found  myself  several  times  on  the 
point  of  crying  out  "  Hear!  "  — thus  running  imminent  risk  of  the  polite 
attentions  of  the  Usher  of  the  Black  Rod ! 

I  am  astonished  at  the  reputation  which  is  conceded  to  Follett  2  (I  have 
not  yet  met  him,  except  in  court).  He  is  still  a  young  man  for  England, 
—  that  is,  perhaps,  forty-five,  —  and  is  said  to  be  in  the  receipt  of  an  im- 
mense income,  much  larger  than  that  of  any  other  lawyer  at  the  bar.  I  have 
heard  Sir  William  Alexander  and  Mr.  Justice  Vaughan,  who  remembers 
Lord  Mansfield,  say  that  Follett  reminds  them  of  him;  but,  with  all  the 
praise  accorded  to  him  from  judges,  lawyers,  and  even  from  Sir  Peter  Laurie 
(ex-mayor),  who  thought  him  the  greatest  lawyer  he  ever  knew,  it  does  not 
seem  to  be  thought  that  he  has  remarkable  general  talents  or  learning. 
They  say  he  has  "  a  genius  for  the  law;  "  but  Hayward,  of  the  "  Law  Maga- 
zine," says  he  is  "a  kind  of  law-mill;  put  in  a  brief,  and  there  comes  out  an 
argument,"  without  any  particular  exertion,  study,  or  previous  attainment. 
I  have  heard  him  several  times.  He  is  uniformly  bland,  courteous,  and 
conversational  in  his  style ;  and  has  never  yet  produced  the  impression  of 
power  upon  me;  in  this  last  respect,  very  unlike  Serjeant  Wilde,  — who  is, 
however,  harsh  and  un amiable.  Wilde  has  an  immense  practice.  The  Solici- 
tor-General is  one  of  the  kindest  and  most  amiable  of  men,  with  a  limited 
practice,  and  is  a  bachelor.  The  Attorney- General  is  able,  but  dry  and  un- 
interesting. I  have  been  more  pleased  with  his  wife,  than  with  any  other 
lady  I  have  met  in  England.  You  know  she  is  the  daughter  of  Lord 
Abinger,  and  is  a  peeress  in  her  own  right,  by  the  title  of  Lady  Stratheden.3 
She  is   beautiful,  intelligent,  and  courteous.      The  Attorney-General  has 

1  J.  W.  Mylne.  Mr.  Mylne's  note  of  June  16,  1838,  referring  to  Sumner's  being  in  the 
Rolls  Court  that  day,  regrets  that  he  did  not  come  to  his  "den  "  in  Lincoln's  Inn,  and  invites 
him  to  attend  a  breakfast  the  next  Wednesday,  and  to  hear  an  unfinished  argument  in  a 
copyright  case  before  the  Lord  Chancellor. 

2  Sir  William  Webb  Follett,  1798-1845.  He  was  elected  to  Parliament  in  1835, 1837,  and 
1841 ;  was  Solicitor-General,  1834-35,  under  Sir  Robert  Peel,  and  again  in  1841,  and  became 
Attorney-General  in  1841.  Miss  Martineau  said  of  him  that  he  "wanted  only  health  to 
have  raised  him  to  the  highest  legal  and  political  honors,"  —  History  of  England,  Book  VI. 
ch.  xvi.  Lord  Campbell,  who  was  present  at  his  burial,  which  was  attended  with  much 
solemnity  in  the  Temple  Church,  bore  an  affectionate  tribute  to  his  memory,  —  "  Lives  of  the 
Lord  Chancellors,"  Vol.  VII.  ch.  clxi.  note.  Follett  wrote,  Nov.  17, 1838,  from  Duke  Street 
to  Sumner:  "If  you  are  not  tired  of  English  lawyers,  will  you  do  me  the  favor  of  meeting 
some  of  them  at  dinner  at  my  house  on  Saturday,  the  24th,  at  seven  o'clock?"  Nov. 
25  he  again  invited  Sumner  to  dinner  on  the  following  Saturday ;  and  on  Feb.  10,  1839, 
sent  him  a  note  accompanying  some  briefs  and  referring  to  "  Story  on  Bailments,"  which 
he  had  just  read.  His  note  of  Nov.  11,  3838,  to  Sumner,  on  receiving  Story's  "Law  of 
Agency,"  is  printed  in  Judge  Story's  "  Life  and  Letters,"  Vol.  II.  p.  305. 

8  She  was  married  to  Sir  John  Campbell  in  1821 ;  was  made  a  peeress  in  her  own  right 
in  1836,  with  the  title  of  Baroness  Stratheden ;  and  died  in  1860.  See  reference  to  her  being 
raised  to  the  peerage  in  "Life  of  Lord  Denman,"  Vol.  II.  p.  27. 


JEt.  27.]  JUSTICE   VAUGHAN.  333 

invited  me  to  meet  him  at  Edinburgh,  when  he  goes  down  to  present  himself 
to  his  constituents. 

This  morning,  Lord  Bexley  *  was  kind  enough  to  invite  me  to"  Foot's 
Cray,"  his  country  seat.  Many  invitations  of  this  kind  I  already  have;  one 
from  Lord  Leicester  (old  Coke) ,  which  I  cannot  neglect ;  also  from  Lord  Fitz- 
william,  Sir  Henry  Halford,  Mr.  Justice  Vaughan,  Lord  Wharncliffe;  and 
besides,  from  my  friend  Brown  in  Scotland,  Mr.  Marshall  at  the  Lakes, 
Lord  Morpeth  in  Ireland;  and  this  moment,  while  I  write,  I  have  received 
a  note  from  the  greatest  of  wits,  Sydney  Smith,2  who  says,  "If  your  ram- 
bles lead  you  to  the  West  of  England,  come  and  see  me  at  Combe  Florey, 
Taunton,  Somersetshire."  Thus  you  see  that  there  is  ample  store  of  means 
for  passing  an  interesting  two  months,  when  you  consider  that  I  shall  take 
the  circuits,  with  all  these. 

Mr.  Justice  Littledale  8  is  a  good  old  man,  simple  and  kind,  but  without 
any  particular  sagacity.  Patteson,  who  appears  to  stand  next  after  Baron 
Parke  in  point  of  judicial  reputation,  is  still  young,4  —  that  is,  near  fifty; 
he  is  about  as  deaf  as  Mr.  Ashmun  was,  and  yet  Lord  Denman  says  that 
he  would  not  spare  him  for  a  good  deal.  Patteson  was  much  annoyed  bv 
the  report  some  time  ago  of  his  intended  resignation. 

Travellers',  Sunday,  July  15. 
Have  I  told  you  the  character  of  Mr.  Justice  Yaughan?  5  He  is  now 
seventy,  and  is  considerably  lame  from  an  accident;  and  is  troubled  with 
rheumatism,  possibly  with  gout.  Otherwise  he  is  in  a  green  old  age;  is 
tall  and  stout;  in  his  manners,  plain,  hearty,  and  cordial;  on  the  bench 
bland,  dignified,  and  yet  familiar,  —  exchanging  a  joke  or  pleasantry  with 
the  bar  on  all  proper  occasions;  in  book-learning  less   eminent  than  for 

1  Nicholas  Vansittart,  1766-1851.  He  was  chosen  to  Parliament  in  1796;  was  in  the 
foreign  service  at  Denmark ;  Lord  of  the  Treasury  in  Ireland  ;  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer 
from  1812  to  1823;  and  then  raised  to  the  peerage  as  Baron  Bexle}'.  He  was  distinguished 
for  his  capacity  in  financial  administration.  He  promoted  religious  and  charitable  enter- 
prises with  much  zeal,  and  was  President  of  the  British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society.  His 
card  admitted  Sumner  to  the  gallery  of  the  House  of  Lords,  on  July  16,  1838.  In 
June  he  invited  Sumner  to  attend  a  meeting  of  the  Bible  Society,  at  which  he  was  to 
preside. 

2  1771-1845.  He  invited  Sumner  to  dine  March  6,  1839,  at  33  Charles  Street,  Berkeley 
Square;  and,  after  Sumner's  return  from  the  Continent,  to  breakfast  at  56  Green  Street. 

8  Joseph  Littledale,  1767-1842.  He  was  appointed  a  judge  of  the  King's  Bench  in 
1824,  and  resigned  in  1841.  His  distinction  is  confined  to  the  law.  Sumner  dined  with 
him  in  Dec,  1838. 

4  John  Patteson,  1790-1861.  He  was  made  a  judge  of  the  King's  Bench  in  1830;  resigned 
on  account  of  deafness  in  1852,  and  sat  five  years  after  his  resignation  on  the  judicial  com- 
mittee of  the  Privy  Council.  His  second  wife  was  the  sister  of  his  colleague,  Sir  John 
Taylor  Coleridge.     See  reference  to  him  in  "Life  of  Lord  Denman,"  Vol.  I.  p.  330. 

5  John  Vaughan,  1768-1839.  He  became  a  baron  of  the  Exchequer  in  1827,  and  a 
judge  of  the  Common  Pleas  in  1834.  He  was  supposed  to  be  indebted  for  his  advancement 
to  his  brother,  Sir  Henry  Halford,  the  court  physician.  "  Life  of  Lord  Denman,"  Vol.  I. 
p.  45.  He  was  very  courteous  to  Sumner,  inviting  him  several  times  to  dine  at  his  house, 
9  Mansfield  Street,  on  one  occasion  in  company  with  distinguished  judges;  and  also 
to  attend  the  circuits.  His  death  took  place,  Sept.  25,  1839,  while  Sumner  was  on  the 
Continent. 


334  MEMOIR  OF   CHARLES  SUMNER.  [1838 

strong  sense  and  a  knowledge  of  the  practice  of  courts,  and  of  the  human 
character.  Yet  I  have  always  found  him  apt  in  apprehending  legal  ques- 
tions when  raised,  and  in  indicating  which  way  he  should  instruct  the 
jury.  His  wife  is  Lady  St.  John,1  the  origin  of  whose  title  I  do  not  re- 
member, though  I  think  he  explained  it  to  me.  She  is  of  the  family  of 
Sir  Theodosius  Boughton,  whose  murder  by  Captain  Donellan2  makes 
such  a  figure  in  the  history  of  crime.  I  have  met  at  dinner  the  present  Sir 
William  Boughton,3  who  is  the  successor  of  Sir  Theodosius.  Sir  Charles 
Vaughan  is  living  quietly,  as  a  bachelor,  quite  at  his  ease.  I  expect  to 
meet  him  at  dinner  to-night  with  Serjeant  D'Oyly.4 

Tindal 6  is  a  model  of  a  patient  man.  He  sits  like  another  Job,  while  the 
debate  at  the  bar  goes  on.  I  may  say  the  same  of  the  Lord  Chancellor,6 
who  hardly  moves  a  muscle  or  opens  his  mouth  during  the  whole  progress 
of  a  cause.  But  turning  from  the  bench  to  the  bar  (you  see  how  I  jump 
about  in  my  hasty  letters) ,  a  few  days  ago  I  strayed  into  a  committee  room 
of  the  House  of  Lords.  Several  counsel  were  busily  engaged.  I  observed 
one  with  a  wig  ill-adjusted,  with  trousers  of  a  kind  of  dirty  chestnut  color, 
that  neither  met  the  waistcoat  nor  the  shoes ;  and  I  said  to  myself,  and  then 
to  my  neighbor,  "That  must  be  Sir  Charles  Wetherell."7  "Yes,"  was 
the  answer ;  and  very  soon  a  reply  of  the  witness  under  examination  con- 
firmed all.  The  witness  (a  plain  farmer)  had  been  pressed  pretty  hard, 
and  was  asked  by  the  counsel  whether  he  thought  many  articles  of  fashion 
would  be  carried  on  a  proposed  railway ;  to  which  the  witness  promptly  re- 
plied, "As  to  articles  of  fashion,  —  I  do  not  think  they  much  concern 
either  you  or  I,  Sir  Charles."  The  whole  room  was  convulsed  with  laugh- 
ter, in  which  Sir  Charles  most  heartily  joined. 

Hay  ward,8  of  the  "  Law  Magazine,"  I  know  very  well.  Last  evening  I 
met  at  dinner,  at  his  chambers  in  King's  Bench  Walk,  some  fashionable  ladies 

1  Louisa,  daughter  of  Sir  Charles  William  Boughton  Rouse,  and  widow  of  Lord  St 
John,  was  married  in  1823  to  Sergeant  Vaughan,  and  died  in  1840. 

2  By  poison,  August  21,  1780.  The  facts  are  given  in  Wills  on  "  Circumstantial  Evi- 
dence," ch.  iii.  sec.  7;  and  more  at  length  in  James  Fitzjames  Stephen's  "General  View 
of  the  Criminal  Law  of  England,"  pp.  338-356. 

8  Sir  William  Edward  Boughton,  son  of  Sir  Charles  William  Boughton  Rouse,  died  in 
1856.    He  was  the  successor,  but  not  the  immediate  or  lineal  successor,  of  Sir  Theodosius. 

4  Thomas  D'Oyly  died  Jan.  14,  1855,  at  the  age  of  eighty-two  years.  He  became  a 
Sergeant  at  Law  in  1819.  He  was  attached  to  the  Home  Circuit,  and  was  for  many  years 
Chairman  of  the  Quarter  Sessions  for  the  western  division  of  the  County  of  Sussex.  He 
often  invited  Sumner  to  dine  at  his  house,  2  Upper  Harley  Street,  and  once  to  attend  with 
him  a  play  of  Terence  (Phormio)  performed  by  the  boys  of  the  Westminster  School,  Dec. 
12,  1838. 

6  Nicolas  Conyngham  Tindal,  1776-1846.  He  was  counsel  for  Queen  Caroline,  Solic- 
itor-General from  1826  to  1829,  and  Chief  Justice  of  the  Common  Pleas  from  1829  until  his 
death. 

6  Lord  Cottenham. 

7  Sir  Charles  Wetherell,  1770-1846.  He  was  a  member  of  Parliament  for  a  consider- 
able period,  Attorney-General  in  1826  and  1828,  and  Recorder  of  Bristol. 

8  Abraham  Hay  ward,  born  about  1800 ;  author  of  several  legal  publications ;  editor  of  the 
"Law  Magazine,"  from  which  he  retired  in  1844;  translator  of  Goethe's  Faust,  and  of  one 
of  Savigny's  works ;  and  contributor  to  the  "  Quarterly  Review."    Among  his  articles  pub- 


Mt.  27.]  ANCIENT  LAW  BUILDINGS.  335 

and  authors,  and  M.P.'s.  There  we  stayed  till  long  after  midnight,  and  — 
shall  I  say  with  Sir  John? —  "  heard  the  chimes  of  midnight  in  this  same 
inn,"  —  though  it  was  Clifford's  Inn  and  not  the  Temple,  which  was  the 
scene  of  Falstaff's  and  Shallow's  mysteries.  Hayward  is  a  fellow  of  a  good 
deal  of  talent  and  variety.  He  is  well  known  as  the  translator  of  "  Faustus," 
and  as  one  of  the  constant  contributors  to  the  "  Quarterly  Review,"  in 
which  he  wrote  the  articles  on  "Gastronomy"  and  "Etiquette."  I  have 
talked  with  him  very  freely  about  his  journal,  and  hope  before  I  leave 
England  to  do  something  in  a  quiet  way  that  shall  secure  a  place  in  it  for 
American  law.  He  has  acknowledged  to  me  that  "  the  Americans  are  ahead 
of  the  English  in  the  science  of  the  law."  He  speaks  well  of  you,  but 
evidently  has  only  glanced  at  your  works.  It  seems  that  his  friend  Lewis, 
who  is  the  author  of  some  of  the  best  articles  in  his  journal,  as  that  on 
Presumptive  Evidence,1  had  undertaken  to  review  your  works,  but  has  since 
gone  to  the  Continent. 

And  thus  I  have  rambled  over  sheets  of  paper!  Do  you,  my  dear  judge, 
follow  me  in  all  these  wanderings?  .  .  .  Then  think  of  my  invading  the  quiet 
seclusion  of  the  Temple ;  looking  in  upon  my  friends  in  King's  Bench  Walk ; 
smiling  with  poetical  reminiscences  as  I  look  at  the  "  No.  5  "  where  Murray 
once  lived;  passing  by  Plowden  Buildings,  diving  into  the  retirement  of  Elm 
Court  to  see  Talfourd,  or  into  the  deeper  retirement  of  Pump  Court  where 
is  Wilkinson,  or  prematurely  waking  up  my  friend  Brown  from  his  morning 
slumbers,  at  two  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  in  Crown-Office  Row. 

You  may  gather  from  my  letters  that  I  have  seen  much  of  the  profession, 
and  also  of  others.  Indeed,  English  lawyers  have  told  me  that  there  are 
many  of  their  own  bar  who  are  not  so  well  acquainted  with  it  already  as  I 
am.  And  if  I  am  able  to  visit  all  the  circuits,  as  I  intend,  I  think  I  shall 
have  a  knowledge  and  experience  of  the  English  bar  such  as,  perhaps,  no 
foreigner  has  ever  before  had  the  opportunity  of  obtaining.  I  shall  be  glad 
to  tell  you  further  that  since  I  have  been  here  I  have  followed  a  rigid  rule 
with  regard  to  my  conduct :  I  have  not  asked  an  introduction  to  any  per- 
son ;  nor  a  single  ticket,  privilege,  or  any  thing  of  the  kind  from  any  one ; 
I  have  not  called  upon  anybody  (with  one  exception)  until  I  had  been 
first  called  upon  or  invited.  The  exception  was  Mr.  Manning,2  of  the 
Temple;  the  author  of  the  "  Digest,"  and  the  translator  of  the  newly  found 
"Year-Book. "  I  met  him  at  Baron  Parke's.  He  is  a  bachelor  of  about 
fifty,  of  moderate  business,  of  very  little  conversation,  who  lives  a  year  with- 
out seeing  a  soul  that  takes  any  interest  in  his  black-letter  pursuits.  I  took 
the  liberty,  on  the  strength  of  meeting  him  at  Baron  Parke's,  to  call  upon 
him ;  and  was  received  most  cordially. 

Your  friend,  Stuart  Wortley,  has  called  upon  me  several  times  and  has  intro- 

lished  in  this  periodical  is  one  on  "American  Orators  and  Statesmen,"  Dec,  1840, 
Vol.  LXVII.  pp.  1-53.  See  a  letter  of  Judge  Story  to  him,  which  furnished  suggestions 
for  the  article,  —  Story's  "  Life  and  Letters,"  Vol.  II.  pp.  324-327.  Sumner  was  indebted 
to  Mr.  Hayward  for  many  civilities,  among  them  an  introduction  to  Mrs.  Norton. 

i  Vol.  VI.  p.  348. 

2  James  Manning,  the  reporter. 


336  MEMOIR  OF   CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1838. 

duced  me  to  all  his  family.  I  owe  him  my  thanks  for  his  kindness.  Lord 
Wharncliffe  has  treated  me  with  no  little  attention;  and  I  have  been  delighted 
by  the  plain,  unaffected  simplicity  which  characterizes  the  whole  family.  I 
am  glad  that  it  has  fallen  to  my  lot  to  become  acquainted  with  two  such 
Tories  as  Lord  Wharncliffe  and  Sir  Robert  Inglis  (from  the  latter  I  have  a 
standing  invitation  to  breakfast  whenever  I  am  not  otherwise  engaged). 
Their  strong  Tory  principles  no  one  can  doubt ;  and  their  beautiful  private 
characters  have  invested  these  principles  with  a  charm  for  my  mind  that  they 
never  had  before.  Not  that  I  am  a  Tory;  but  meeting  Tories  of  such  a  char- 
acter has  made  me  charitable  and  catholic,  and  convinced  me  that  every  thing 
that  proceeds  from  them  is  from  the  purest  hearts  and  most  cultivated  minds. 

And  now,  my  dear  Judge,  I  will  bring  this  letter  to  a  close.  I  have 
written  with  the  most  entire  frankness ;  for  to  whom  should  I  pour  out  my 
heart  if  not  to  you?  You  may  show  this  to  Hillard  and  Greenleaf ;  but  I 
doubt  if  any  stranger  would  not  think  this  narrative  a  tissue  of  vanity  instead 
of  the  offering  of  affectionate  friendship. 

I  have  received  your  "  Equity  Pleadings,"  and  have  been  reading  what  I 
had  not  read  before.  The  day  the  copies  were  on  sale  two  were  purchased, 
—  one  by  Sutton  Sharpe  and  the  other  by  Joseph  Parkes,  the  "  Birmingham 
Solicitor."     The  latter  I  know  quite  well; 1  he  is  an  able  fellow. 

You  will  receive  this  in  the  middle  of  a  hot  month.  It  will  be  a  good 
afternoon's  work  to  go  through  it.  William  will  be  on  the  point  of  quitting 
the  quiet  haven  of  college  and  trying  another  sphere  of  life.  Success  be  with 
him!     I  shall  write  him  probably  by  the  same  packet  with  this. 

As  I  leave  town  soon  for  the  circuits  and  for  Scotland,  I  do  not  know  when 
you  will  hear  from  me  again.     I  shall,  however,  think  of  you  in  the  beautiful 
west  of  England,  in  the  mountains  of  Wales,  the  lakes  of  Scotland,  and  while 
I  hear  the  brogue  of  Ireland.     And  now,  good-by,  and  believe  me 
As  ever,  most  affectionately  yours, 

Chas.  Sumner. 

Travellers',  July  17. 

P.  S.  To  this  already  "  Alexandrine"  letter  I  add  an  "  Alexandrine  " 
postscript.  .  .  . 

I  have  not  spoken  of  arguments  before  the  Lords.  I  have  attended  one, 
and  sat  in  conversation  with  the  Attorney-General,  Lushington,  and  Clark, 
the  reporter.2  The  Chancellor  sat  at  the  table  below  the  woolsack;  the 
benches  of  the  Lords  were  bare;  only  two  unfortunate  members,  to  whom  by 

1  Joseph  Parkes,  1796-1865.  He  was  first  a  solicitor  at  Birmingham ;  removed  to  London 
in  1832,  and  was  taxing  master  of  the  Court  of  Exchequer  from  1847  until  his  death.  He 
published  a  "  History  of  the  Court  of  Chancery,"  and  was  a  writer  for  Reviews.  The  "Me- 
moirs of  Sir  Philip  Francis,  with  Correspondence  and  Journals,"  published  in  1867,  was 
commenced  by  him,  and  completed  after  his  death  by  Herman  Merivale.  He  was  much  trusted 
in  the  councils  of  reformers.  Sumner,  who  bore  a  letter  to  him  from  John  Neal,  was  indebted 
to  him  for  several  of  his  best  introductions,  —as  to  Brougham,  Charles  Austin,  the  Mon- 
tagus, and  Cobden. 

2  Charles  Clark,  reporter  (in  association  with  W.  Finnelly)  of  cases  in  the  House  of 
Lords. 


^t.  27.]  LORD   COTTENHAM.  337 

rotation  it  belonged  to  tend-out  in  this  manner,  were  present  in  order  to  con- 
stitute the  quorum.  These  happened  to  be,  as  Dr.  Lushington  explained  to 
me,  Lord  Sudeley,  who  is  quite  skilled  in  architecture,  and  Lord  Mostyn, 
who  is  a  great  fox-hunter.  There  they  sat  from  ten  o'clock  in  the  morning 
till  four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  with  their  legs  stretched  on  the  red  benches, 
and  endeavoring  by  all  possible  change  of  posture  to  wear  away  the  time. 
The  Attorney-General  told  me  that  "  it  would  be  thought  quite  indecorous 
in  either  of  them  to  interfere  by  saying  a  word."  You  have  asked  about  the 
characters  of  judges.  I  should  not  omit  that  of  the  Lord  Chancellor.1  He 
did  not  once  open  his  lips,  I  think,  from  the  beginning  to  the  end  of  the 
hearing.  I  am  astonished  at  the  concurring  expressions  of  praise  which  I 
hear  from  every  quarter.  He  has  been  all  his  days  a  devoted  student  of  the 
law;  and,  I  believe,  of  nothing  else.  Clark,  the  reporter,  also  author  of  the 
book  on  Colonial  Law,  told  me  that  he  had  "  most  magnificently  disappointed 
the  profession;  "  and  that  Tories  as  well  as  Whigs  would  be  sorry  to  see  him 
obliged,  by  any  political  change,  to  abandon  the  great  seal.  Dr.  Lushington 
also  spoke  of  him  in  the  highest  terms,  as  did  the  Attorney-General.  When 
I  pressed  Lushington  into  a  comparison  of  Cottenham  with  Brougham,  he 
evidently  gave  the  former  the  preference.  Lushington  2  himself  is  a  great 
man ;  one  of  the  ablest  men  in  England.  I  owe  his  acquaintance  to  the 
Attorney-General.  Dr.  L.  told  me  that  Brougham,  when  Chancellor,  nearly 
killed  himself  and  all  his  bar;  that,  during  the  passage  of  the  Reform  Bill  in 
the  Commons,  he  sat  in  the  Lords  from  ten  o'clock  in  the  forenoon  till  ten  at 
night;  and  Lushington  was  in  constant  attendance  here,  and  was  obliged 
to  repair  from  the  Lords  to  the  Commons,  where  he  was  kept  nearly  all  night. 
The  consequence  was  that  Lushington  did  not  recover  from  the  effects  of  this 
over-exertion  for  fifteen  months.  Dr.  L.  told  me  that  he  had  practised  a  great 
deal  before  Lord  Stowell,8  and  that  he  was  the  greatest  judge  he  ever  knew; 
that  he  was  rapid  as  lightning,  —  more  rapid  even  than  Brougham,  besides 
being  more  uniformly  attentive,  and  of  course  safe;  he  comprehended  the 
whole  of  an  argument  before  it  was  half  uttered.  I  incidentally  mentioned 
your  name  to  Dr.  L.,  when  he  exclaimed:  "  Dear  me!  I  have  used  his  book 
constantly,  —  an  admirable  book,  which  we  could  not  get  along  without." 
He  said  that  you  had  raised  some  questions  about  marriage,  which  he  did  not 

1  Charles  Christopher  Pepys,  1781-1851.  He  became  Solicitor-General  in  1833,  Master 
of  Rolls  in  1834,  Lord  Chancellor  in  1836,  and  a  peer  with  the  title  of  Baron  Cottenham.  He 
held  the  seal,  with  a  brief  interval,  until  June,  1850,  when  he  resigned;  having  the  same 
month  been  advanced  in  the  peerage  to  the  title  of  Viscount  Crowhurst  and  Earl  of  Cotten- 
ham. He  died  in  Italy,  while  travelling  in  the  hope  of  regaining  his  health  which  had  been 
broken  by  the  too  great  labors  of  his  office.  See  account  of  his  appointment  in  preference 
to  Brougham  in  Campbell's  "  Life  of  Lord  Brougham,"  Chap.  VI. ;  Greville's  "Memoirs," 
Chap.  XXX.,  Jan.  20,  1836. 

2  Stephen  Lushington,  1782-1873.  He  served  in  Parliament  from  1817  to  1841,  advo- 
cated the  abolition  of  slavery  and  the  slave-trade;  was  one  of  Queen  Caroline's  counsel,  and 
was  appointed  Judge  of  the  Admiralty  and  a  Privy  Councillor  in  1838.  He  was  Lady  By- 
ron's counsel  in  her  domestic  difficulties.  Sumner  visited  him  in  July,  1857,  at  Ockham 
Park,  in  Surrey. 

8  William  Scott,  1745-1836.  He  was  the  brother  of  Lord  Eldon,  and  distinguished  aa 
Judge  of  the  High  Court  of  Admiralty. 

vol.  i.  22 


338  MEMOIR   OF   CHARLES   SUMNER.  |1838. 

know  how  they  should  solve.     Lushington  is  about  fifty  or  fifty-five;  a  tall, 
thin  man,  with  an  intelligent,  open,  smiling  countenance. 

I  have  already  mentioned  in  this  letter  that  Lord  Deiiman  calls  the  wig 
the  silliest  thing  in  England.  I  took  the  liberty  of  telling  this  to  Justice 
Allan  Park,  who  at  once  exclaimed  that  it  was  all  a  piece  of  Denman's  cox- 
combry;  that  he  wished  to  show  his  person.  A  few  years  ago,  when  an  inven- 
tion came  out  by  means  of  which  wigs  were  made,  with  the  appearance  of 
being  powdered,  and  yet  without  powder  and  the  consequent  dirt,  Park  re- 
sisted the  change  as  an  innovation  on  the  Constitution;  and  he  actually 
refused  to  recognize  his  own  son  at  the  bar,  when  he  had  appeared  in  one  of 
the  new-fangled  wigs ! 

I  have  alluded  to  the  familiarity  between  the  bench  and  the  bar.  I  am 
assured  that  the  judges  always  address  barristers,  even  on  a  first  introduction, 
without  the  prefix  of  "  Mr." ;  and  that  a  junior  would  feel  aggrieved  by  the 
formality,  if  his  senior  should  address  him  as  "  Mr."  This  same  freedom  I 
have  observed  between  members  of  the  House  of  Commons,  and  Peers.  In- 
deed, wherever  I  meet  persons  who  are  at  all  acquainted,  I  never  hear  any 
title,  —  which  is  not  a  little  singular  in  this  country  of  titles. 

And  now,  good-by  again.  C.  S. 

P.  S.  I  have  forgotten  to  say  that  Lord  Langdale  has  as  much  disap- 
pointed the  profession  as  the  Chancellor  has  gratified  them.1  This  is,  how- 
ever, partly  attributed  to  the  extravagant  expectations  formed  with  regard 
to  him ;  being  such  that  it  was  next  to  impossible  for  any  man  to  fulfil  them. 


TO  JUDGE  STORY. 

Boston think  of  that ! 

My  dear  Judge,  —  I  have  just  written  Boston,  and  would  not  alter  it, 
because  I  preferred  to  leave  it,  that  you  may  see  how  1  think  of  home,  — how 
present  it  is  in  my  mind,  and  how  unbidden  it  rises.  I  write  these  lines  as 
a  supplement  to  the  volume  I  have  already  written  by  this  same  steam-packet; 
but  some  matters  have  occurred  to  my  mind  that  I  have  failed  to  mention,  I 
believe.  You  will,  doubtless,  be  pleased  to  hear  about  Lord  Abinger.  I  have 
written  you  that  I  have  met  him  in  society,  and  was  not  particularly  pleased 
with  him:  he  was  cold  and  indifferent,  and  did  not  take  to  me,  evidently; 
and  so  I  did  not  take  to  him.  Neither  did  I  hear  him,  during  a  long  evening, 
say  any  thing  that  was  particularly  remarkable ;  but  all  the  bar  bear  tes- 
timony to  his  transcendency  as  an  advocate.  Indeed,  James  Smith  —  the 
famous  author  of  "  Rejected  Addresses  "  —  told  me,  last  evening,  that  Ers- 
kine  was  the  most  eloquent  man  he  remembered  at  the  bar,  but  Scarlett 2 
by  far  the  most  successful  advocate.     You  will  perceive  that  this  stretches 

1  As  to  the  appointment  of  Langdale,  see  Campbell's  "Life  of  Lord  Brougham,"  Chap. 
VI. ;  Greville's  "Memoirs,"  Chap.  XXX.,  Jan.  20,  1836. 

2  Lord  Abinger. 


JEt.27.]  lord  plunkett.  839 

over  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century.  Abinger  is  said  to  be  rich,  and  to 
love  money  very  much.  How  is  he  as  a  judge  now?  Deplorable !  I  hear 
but  one  opinion;  and  recently  I  was  with  a  party  of  lawyers  who  com- 
pose the  Oxford  Circuit,  on  which  Lord  Abinger  is  at  this  moment,  and 
of  which  my  friend  Talfourd  is  the  leader,  when  they  all  deprecated  Abinger 
on  their  circuit.  .  .  . 

As  ever  yours,  C.  S. 


TO  JUDGE  STORY. 

London,  July  23,  1838. 

My  dear  Judge,  —  I  start  on  my  circuits  to-morrow  morning;  but,  be- 
fore I  go,  I  have  a  request  to  which  I  wish  to  call  your  attention  at  the 
earliest  convenient  time.  My  friend,  Joseph  Parkes,  —  the  author  of  the 
famous  work  on  "Chancery  Reform,"  and  one  of  the  ablest  and  best  in- 
formed men  that  I  have  met,  —  is  engaged  in  preparing  a  work  on  the  ballot 
and  the  extension  of  the  elective  franchise.  In  Rhode  Island  they  have 
lately  discussed,  in  newspapers,  pamphlets,  and  public  meetings,  the  exten- 
sion of  the  suffrage.  I  feel  anxious  to  get  what  there  is  for  Mr.  Parkes,  as 
he  is  a  thorough  man,  and  most  friendly  to  our  country,  and  has  the  confi- 
dence of  the  first  men  of  England,  —  I  may  say,  the  special  confidence  of 
Brougham  and  Durham. 

The  present  ministry  is  quite  liberal ;  but  still  it  does  not  adopt  the  great 
radical  measure  of  the  ballot  and  the  extension  of  the  suffrage.  .  .  .  Peel 
is  prudent,  and  with  his  forty  thousand  pounds  a  year  can  afford  to  wait; 
whereas  Lyndhurst  is  desperately  poor,  and  wishes  office  for  its  lucre.  Peel 
is  feared  by  the  Radicals,  on  account  of  his  prudence.  I  told  the  editor  of 
the  "  Spectator  "  (Mr.  Rintoul)  1  that  I  thought  the  better  way  was  to  work 
on  under  the  present  ministry,  constantly  getting  liberal  peers  and  bishops, 
as  long  as  possible,  rather  than  to  make  war  against  them. 

Day  before  yesterday,  I  was  regretting  that  I  was  obliged  to  decline  a 
second  invitation  to  dinner  from  Lord  Denman,  on  account  of  a  previous 
engagement.  At  my  dinner,  however,  I  met  the  old  Earl  Devon,2  —  the  rep- 
resentative of  the  great  Courtenay  family,  celebrated  by  Gibbon,8  —  Lord 
Plunkett,4  the  Attorney,  the  Solicitor,  Sir  Frederick  Pollock,  and  Sir  Wil- 
liam Follett.     I  sat  between  Follett  and  Pollock.     To  the  first  I  talked  about 

1  Robert  S.  Rintoul,  1787-1855;  the  founder  of  the  "Spectator."  He  was  previously 
editor  of  the  Dundee  "Advertiser." 

2  William,  eleventh  Earl  of  Devon ;  he  died  in  1859,  aged  eighty-two. 
«  The  "  Decline  and  Fall."  Chap.  LXI. 

*  William  Conyngham  Plunkett,  1765-1854.  He  was  successively  Solicitor  and  Attor- 
ney General  in  Ireland ;  became  a  peer  and  Chief  Justice  of  the  Common  Pleas  in  Ireland, 
in  1827,  and  was  Lord  Chancellor  of  Ireland,  with  a  brief  interval,  from  1830  to  1841.  He 
opposed  in  the  Irish  Parliament  the  union  with  England,  and  subsequently  took  very  high 
rank  in  the  British  House  of  Commons  as  an  advocate  of  Catholic  Emancipation.  Marti- 
neau's  "History  of  England,"  Book  II.  ch.  x.  Sketch  of  Lord  Plunkett  in  Brougham's 
1  Autobiography,"  ch.  xxviii. 


340  MEMOIR  OF   CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1838. 

law,  and  his  cases;  to  the  latter,  about  Horace,  and  Juvenal,  and  Persius, 
and  the  beauty  of  the  English  language.  Pollock  is  a  delightful  scholar: 
Follett  is  a  delightful  man,  — simple,  amiable,  unaffected  as  a  child.  Said 
Follett:  "  I  have  often  cited,  before  the  House  of  Lords,  the  work  of  one  of 
your  countrymen ,  —  Dr.  Story ; ' '  and  he  inundated  me  with  questions  about 
you.  He  has  been  so  kind  as  to  call  and  see  me.  You  would  have  been 
pleased  by  the  cordiality  and  friendship  between  the  present  Whig  and  the 
old  Tory  law-officers.  When  Lord  Plunkett  inquired  of  me  the  meaning 
of  "locofoco"  and  I  denned  it  to  be  "  a  very  ultra.  Radical,"  Follett  and 
Pollock  both  laughed,  and  cried  out  to  the  Attorney:  "Campbell,  you  are 
the  '  locofoco  ! '  "  They  appeared  so  pleased  with  the  term  that  I  should  not 
be  surprised  if  they  adopted  it.  This  cordiality  is  indescribably  pleasant. 
Plunkett  is  old,  and  has  lost  his  powers;  in  the  Lords,  he  speaks  like  an 
old  man,  and  they  very  seldom  report  what  he  says.  He  was  very  kind  to 
me ;  and  when  I  told  him  that  I  had  often  declaimed  at  college  one  of  his 
speeches  (his  most  eloquent  speech  in  the  Irish  Parliament) ,  and  I  added 
a  word  from  Juvenal,  —  "  et  declamatio  fias," —  the  old  peer  brightened, 
and  at  once  quoted  the  whole  line,  — 

"Ut  pueris  placeas,  et  declamatio  fias." 

But  I  have  seen  another,  —  Lord  Brougham.  I  was  at  Parkes's  yester- 
day, when  he  said:  "Get  into  my  cab."  I  got  in,  and  then  asked  where 
we  were  going.  "  To  Lord  Brougham's,"  he  said;  and  so  to  Brougham's 
we  went.  His  Lordship  received  me  cordially,  inquired  earnestly  after  your 
health,  and  invited  me  to  come  down  and  pass  some  time  with  him  at 
Brougham  Hall,  in  Westmoreland ;  and  I  have  promised  to  go.  He  nattered 
me,  by  saying  that  he  knew  me  by  reputation  (the  Lord  knows  how!)  ;  and, 
as  I  was  leaving,  he  took  me  by  the  arm  and  conducted  me  to  the  door,  re- 
peating his  invitation  again,  saying:  "  Come  down,  and  we  will  be  quiet, 
and  talk  over  the  subject  of  codification."  In  the  course  of  conversa- 
tion, when  I  told  him  I  was  going  on  the  circuit,  he  offered  me  letters  to 
Lord  Denman,  which  I  apprised  him  I  had  no  need  of,  as  I  already  knew  his 
Lordship  sufficiently  well.  "  Then,"  said  he,  "I  must  give  you  a  letter  to 
Alderson,  at  Liverpool."  I  am  at  a  loss  to  account  for  my  reception  from 
Brougham;  for  he  is  a  person  almost  inaccessible  at  present,  wTho  sees  very 
little  society,  but  occupies  himself  with  affairs  and  with  composition.1  From 
Brougham  Hall  you  will  hear  from  me.  Tell  Hillard  of  this,  as  I  cannot 
write  him  now.  The  Solicitor- General  has  urged  me  to  stay  longer  in  Lon- 
don, in  order  to  meet  the  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer  at  dinner,  who  would 
like  to  talk  with  me  on  American  affairs ;  but  I  must  go. 

Affectionate  regards  to  your  family,  as  ever,  from  affectionately  yours. 

C.  s. 

1  He  was  then  preparing  an  edition  of  his  "  Speeches,"  with  historical  introductions. 
His  translation  of  the  "  De  Corona,"  composed  about  this  time,  was  a  failure;  but  his 
"Sketches  of  the  Statesmen  and  Philosophers  of  the  Reign  of  George  the  Third," 
also  composed  during  the  same  period,  has  found  much  favor.  Campbell's  "Life  of 
Brougham,"  ch.  vi. 


^T.  27.]  THE   WESTERN   CIRCUIT  AT  BODMIN.  341 


CHAPTER  XV. 

THE   CIRCUITS.  —  VISITS   IN   ENGLAND   AND    SCOTLAND.— AUGUST   TO 
OCTOBER,  1838.— AGE,  27. 


LETTERS. 


TO  GEORGE  S.  HILLARD,  BOSTON. 

Liverpool,  Aug.  12,  1838. 
My  dear  Hillard,  —  Yours  of  June  26  and  various  dates  greeted  my 
arrival  in  this  place  after  a  most  delightful  ramble  in  the  South  and  West 
of  England,  —  first  to  Guilford,  where  I  met  Lord  Denman  and  the  Home 
Circuit,  and  dined  with  his  Lordship  and  all  the  bar ;  then  to  Winchester 
and  Salisbury,  stopping  to  view  those  glories  of  England,  the  cathedrals. 
Old  Sarum,  and  Stonehenge,  — that  mighty  unintelligible  relic  of  the  savage 
Titans  of  whom  history  has  said  nothing;  then  to  Exeter,  and  down  even  to 
Bodmin  in  Cornwall,  where  the  Assizes  of  the  Western  Circuit  were  held. 
Serjeant  Wilde  and  Sir  William  Follett  were  there,  having  gone  down  spe- 
cial, not  being  regularly  of  the  circuit;  and  we  three  formed  the  guests  of 
the  bar.  Our  healths  were  drunk,  and  I  was  called  upon  to  make  a  reply, 
which  I  did  on  the  spur  of  the  moment.  From  Bodmin,  I  went  still 
farther  in  Cornwall  to  visit  the  high-sheriff,  and  his  mines,  —  the  largest 
that  are  there;  his  seat  is  the  palace  of  the  old  Cornish  kings,  — you  have 
doubtless  seen  pictures  of  it  repeatedly;  it  is  a  perfect  castle,  and  has  a 
most  romantic  situation.  I  then  travelled  in  the  carriage  of  a  friend, — 
Crowder,1  one  of  the  Queen's  counsel,  —  through  portions  of  Cornwall,  and 
that  most  beautiful  county,  Devon,  stopping  at  Plymouth;  being  received  by 
the  commander  of  the  largest  ship  in  port,  a  barge  placed  at  my  orders  to 
visit  any  ship  I  wished,  and  an  officer  designated  to  show  me  over  the  dock- 
yard. From  Exeter  I  went  up  through  the  green  fields  of  Devon  and  Som- 
erset to  the  delicious  parsonage  of  Sydney  Smith,2  Combe  Florey,  where  I 

1  Richard  Budden  Crowder,  1795-1859.  He  became  Recorder  of  Bristol  in  1846,  and  a 
Judge  of  the  Common  Pleas  in  1854.  Sumner  dined  with  him  in  February,  1839,  at  his 
house,  11  Pall  Mall  East. 

2  The  following  note  is  preserved :  — 

Combe  Flokey,  Taunton,  Aug.  16,  1838. 
My  dear  Sir,  —  I  have  a  great  admiration  of  Americans,  and  have  met  a  great  num- 
ber of  agreeable,  enlightened  Americans.     There  is  something  in  the  honesty,  simplicity 


342  MEMOIR    OF   CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1838. 

passed  a  good  part  of  two  days,  and  most  reluctantly  left  in  order  to  go  north 
to  Wells,  to  meet  the  Western  Circuit  again;  here  I  dined  one  day  with  the 
bar,  and  the  other  with  the  judges,  — Baron  Parke  and  Mr.  Justice  Coltman. 
From  Wells  I  passed  to  Bristol  and  Cheltenham;  and  then,  by  a  ride  of  one 
hundred  and  twenty-five  miles  on  the  outside  of  the  coach,  between  six 
o'clock  in  the  morning  and  six  at  night,  to  Chester,  where  Mr.  Justice 
Vaughan  was  holding  the  Assizes.  On  my  coming  into  court  that  evening, 
his  Lordship  addressed  me  from  the  bench,  and  called  me  to  his  side,  where 
I  sat  for  two  hours.  In  the  mean  time,  orders  had  been  given  to  have  lodg- 
ings provided  for  me  in  the  castle,  with  the  judges.  This  I  firmly  de- 
clined, but  dined  with  them ;  and  all  this  after  my  long  ride.  From  Chester 
I  have  come  to  Liverpool.  It  so  happens  that  I  have  not  met  Baron  Alder- 
son, —  a  most  remarkable  man,  who  holds  the  Assizes  here;  but  I  bring 
introductions,  which  were  entirely  unsolicited  on  my  part,  from  Baron  Parke, 
Mr.  Justice  Coltman,  Mr.  Justice  Vaughan,  Sydney  Smith,  and  Lord 
Brougham.  Brougham's  I  found  at  the  post-office.  I  shall  not  present  it, 
but  keep  it  as  an  autograph :  it  is  quite  odd.  Such  is  a  mere  skeleton  of 
my  progress.  It  were  vain  for  me  to  attempt  to  record  all  the  kindness  and 
hospitality  I  have  received.  Sir  William  Follett  has  extended  the  hand  of 
friendship  to  me  in  a  most  generous  way.  His  reputation  in  the  profession 
is  truly  colossal,  second  only  to  that  of  Lord  Mansfield;  in  his  manners  he  is 
simple  and  amiable  as  a  child:  he  is  truly  lovable.  My  visit  to  Sydney 
Smith  was  delicious.  He  gave  me  a  book  on  parting,  as  he  said,  to  assist 
in  calling  to  my  mind  his  parsonage.  I  have  written  .  ,o  Felton  about  this 
visit.  From  Liverpool  I  shall  go  north  to  attend  the  British  Association, 
and  shall  then  visit  Lord  Brougham  at  Brougham  Hall,  where  I  have  been 
most  kindly  asked.  I  am  in  the  way  of  thoroughly  understanding  his 
character;  for  I  know  well  some  of  his  most  intimate  friends.  The  Duke 
of  Wellington  says  of  him,  "Damned  odd  fellow,  —  half  mad!"  And 
Brougham,  who  is  now  vexed  with  the  Duke  for  interfering  to  save  the 
ministry  so  often,  says  "  Westminster  Abbey  is  yawning  for  him!  "... 

I  hope  I  do  not  repeat  myself;  but  writing  as  T  do,  at  inns  and  club- 
houses, and  with  my  mind  full  fraught  with  what  I  have  seen  or  heard,  I 
hardly  know  what  I  write.  You  will  not  count  me  vain  for  communicating 
to  you  what  I  have  with  regard  to  the  kindness  extended  to  me.  I  pour 
out  my  heart  to  my  friends,  and  I  doubt  not  I  shall  have  their  sympathy. 
I  should  be  glad  to  have  Cleveland,  Felton,  Cushing,  Longfellow,  Lawrence, 
and  Greenleaf  see  my  letters,  if  they  care  about  it.  All  this,  however,  I 
confide  to  your  discretion. 

Perhaps  you  will  not  hear  from  me  again  for  a  month;  for  I  am  going 
north,  and  probably  shall  not  write  till  my  return  to   Liverpool  on   my 

and  manliness  of  your  countrymen  which  pleases  me  very  much.  We  were  very  grateful 
to  you  for  believing  in  us  and  coming  to  see  us ;  and  it  will  be  pleasant  to  me  to  think  that 
I  am  remembered  and  thought  well  of  on  the  other  side  of  the  world,  by  a  gentleman  as 
honorable  and  as  enlightened  as  yourself. 

Very  truly  yours,  Sydney  Smith. 

Mr.  Sumner. 


jEt.  27.]  THE  NORTHERN  CIRCUIT  AT  LIVERPOOL.  343 

embarkation  for  Ireland.     I  hope  you  will  write  me  about  all  the  matters 
mentioned  in  my  last  despatch  to  you,  at  length,  and  in  your  most  closely- 
written  hand.     Would  that  I  could  imitate  you.     Good-by. 
As  ever,  affectionately  yours, 

Chas.  Sumner. 


TO  JUDGE  STORY. 

Liverpool,  Aug.  18,  1838. 
My  dear  Judge,  —  .  .  .  x  From  Chester  I  passed  to  the  great  Northern 
Circuit  at  Liverpool,  with  various  letters  of  introduction  to  the  judges. 
The  first  day  I  was  in  Liverpool,  I  dined  with  the  city  corporation  at  a 
truly  aldermanic  feast  in  honor  of  the  judges;  the  second,  with  the  judges, 
to  meet  the  bar;  the  third,  with  the  Mayor  at  his  country  seat;  the 
fourth,  with  the  bar;  the  fifth,  with  Mr.  Cresswell  (the  leader  and  old 
reporter),  Sir  Gregory  Lewin,  Watson2  (author  of  a  book  on  Arbitration), 
the  sheriffs,  &c,  Rushton 3  (Corporation  Commissioner),  Wortley,  &c., 
at  a  private  dinner;  and  to-day,  in  a  few  minutes,  I  dine  with  Roebuck,4 
who  has  just  entered  upon  the  Northern  Circuit.  At  the  Judges'  dinner, 
Baron  Alderson  alluded  to  me,  and  gave  the  health  of  the  President  of  the 
United  States.  I  made  some  remarks,  which  were  well  received.  Mr. 
Ingham,  an  M.  P.  who  was  present,  I  observed,  was  quite  attentive,  and 
seemed  pleased.  At  the  bar  dinner,  Adolphus,6  the  reporter,  proposed  my 
health,  which  dr<  w  me  out  in  a  speech  of  considerable  length,  — the  longest 
I  have  yet  made.  I  should  not  fail  to  say  that  your  health  was  proposed 
and  drunk,  and  that  you  are  known  very  well.  I  have  a  thousand  things  to 
say  to  you  about  the  law,  circuit  life,  and  the  English  judges.  I  have  seen 
more  of  all  than  probably  ever  fell  to  the  lot  of  a  foreigner.  I  have  the 
friendship  and  confidence  of  judges,  and  of  the  leaders  of  the  bar.  Not  a 
day  passes  without  my  being  five  or  six  hours  in  company  with  men  of  this 
stamp.  And  can  you  say  that  this  will  do  me  no  good, — that  I  shall  be 
spoiled  ?    My  tour  is  no  vulgar  holiday  affair,  merely  to  spend  money  and  to 

1  The  omitted  part  of  this  letter  is  mainly  a  repetition  of  one  written  to  Hillard,  Aug.  12. 

2  William  Henry  Watson. 

8  A  friend  of  Dr.  Julius  and  G.  H.  Wilkinson. 

*  John  Arthur  Roebuck  was  born  in  Madras,  in  1802.  He  lived  in  Canada  from  1815 
to  1824;  and  then  went  to  England  to  study  for  the  bar.  He  joined  John  Stuart  Mill's 
44  Utilitarian  Society,"  and  was  an  early  writer  for  the  44  Westminster  Review."  Autobi- 
ography of  Mill,  pp.  81,  96.  He  represented  Bath  in  Parliament  from  1832  to  1837,  and 
from  1841  to  1847 ;  and  Sheffield  from  1849  to  1869 ;  and,  after  a  defeat  in  1869,  was  chosen 
again  for  Sheffield  in  1874.  He  is  the  author  of  a  book  on  44The  Colonies  of  England," 
and  a  44  History  of  the  Whig  Ministry  of  1830,"  and  has  contributed  to  the  '4 Edinburgh  " 
as  well  as  the  u  Westminster "  Review.  Allying  himself  in  later  life  with  the  cause  of 
American  Slavery  in  its  final  struggle,  he  became  intensely  hostile  to  the  United  States 
during  the  Civil  War,  and  was  the  partisan  of  the  Southern  Confederacy.  Sumner  was 
introduced  to  him  by  Joseph  Parkes. 

6  John  Leycester  Adolphus,  1793-1868 ;  Reporter  of  the  Queen's  Bench  in  association  with 
Thomas  Flower  Ellis  (Macaulay's  friend).  In  1820,  he  maintained  in  a  pamphlet  Scott'a 
authorship  of  the  Waverley  Novels.   "Life  of  Lord  Denman,"  Vol.  II.  p.  244. 


344  MEMOIR   OF  CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1838. 

get  the  fashions.  It  is  to  see  men,  institutions,  and  laws;  and,  if  it  would 
not  seem  vain  in  me,  I  would  venture  to  say  that  I  have  not  discredited  my 
country.  I  have  called  the  attention  of  the  judges  and  the  profession  to  the 
state  of  the  law  in  our  country,  and  have  shown  them,  by  my  conversation 
(I  will  say  this),  that  I  understood  their  jurisprudence. 

I  know  Roebuck,  and  I  like  him  much.  He  is  young,  ardent,  ambi- 
tious, and  full  of  great  things;  accomplished,  and  republican.  He  is  one 
of  the  few  men  ever  called  for  in  the  House  of  Commons  in  the  course  of 
debates.  Perhaps  you  will  not  hear  from  me  for  some  time,  as  I  go  to 
Scotland. 

Ever  affectionately  yours,  C.  S. 


TO  GEORGE  S.  HILLARD. 

Westoe  Hall,  Durham,  Aug.  24, 1838. 
My  dear  Hillard,  —  From  my  chamber  window  I  look  upon  the  mouth 
of  the  Tyne  and  the  German  Ocean,  and  the  venerable  ruins  of  Tynemouth 
Priory,  coeval  with  the  Conquest,  and  the  foam  of  the  sea  breaking  on  this 
rock-bound  coast,  and  lashed  into  great  fury  by  a  raging  storm.  Think  of 
this  picture:  the  white  sea  I  am  well  accustomed  to;  but  these  reverend 
arches,  the  sturdy  and  graceful  witnesses  of  centuries,  I  know  much  less 
about.  I  am  the  guest  of  Mr.  Ingham,1  the  M.  P.  for  South  Shields.  I 
was  brought  out  by  a  toast  from  Baron  Alderson  at  a  dinner  in  Liverpool, 
and  some  remarks  which  I  made  secured  the  favorable  attention  of  the 
honorable  and  learned  member,  who  invited  me  to  visit  the  British  Associa- 
tion at  Newcastle  as  his  guest,  offering  to  me  apartments  in  town,  and  also 
at  his  seat,  about  ten  miles  from  Newcastle.  I  cannot  describe  to  you  the 
heartiness  of  my  reception.  The  style  of  English  country  life  I  must  talk 
of  on  my  return:  I  cannot  give  you  any  thing  like  a  complete  picture  of  it. 
I  am  struck  by  the  elegance  which  I  find  in  such  a  quiet  retreat.  Yester- 
day my  host  invited  some  company,  fourteen  gentlemen,  to  meet  me  and 
another  friend  staying  with  him,  who  all  passed  the  night  in  the  house. 
You  sit  down  to  dinner  usually  between  seven  and  eight  o'clock;  and  one 

1  Robert  Ingham,  M.  P.,  1832-1841  and  1852-1868,  for  South  Shields  near  Westoe, 
where  he  was  born  and  died.  He  was  educated  at  Oxford,  and  in  1820  joined  the  Northern 
Circuit.  He  was  not  eminent  at  the  bar  or  in  Parliament,  but  he  was  a  man  of  sterling 
worth  and  attractive  personal  qualities.  He  was  a  bencher  of  the  Inner  Temple,  and  had 
chambers  in  King's  Bench  Walk.  In  politics  he  was  a  moderate  liberal.  When  he  with- 
drew from  public  life,  his  neighbors  and  constituents  gave  him  a  testimonial  in  the  form  of 
an  infirmary  erected  by  public  subscription  in  his  honor.  He  delighted  in  hospitality,  and 
was  very  cordial  to  visitors  from  this  country,  several  of  whom  —  Rev.  Dr.  Francis  Way- 
land,  Rev.  Dr.  Palfrey,  Mr.  Hillard,  and  Richard  H.  Dana,  Jr.  —  were  commended  to  him 
by  Sumner,  his  first  American  guest.  Mr.  Ingham  died  Oct.  21,  1875,  at  the  age  of  eighty- 
two.  Tributes  to  his  memory  were  published  in  the  "Boston  Advertiser,"  Nov.  8  and  19, 
1875,  —  one  by  Clement  H.  Hill,  and  the  other  by  Mr.  Hillard.  Sumner  visited  Mr.  Ingham 
at  Westoe,  in  October,  1857,  and  made  the  memorandum  at  the  time,  "Rambled  about, 
hoping  to  recognize  old  spots  which  I  had  known  nineteen  years  ago." 


JEt.  27.]  THE  BRITISH  ASSOCIATION.  345 

would  sooner  commit  the  unpardonable  sin  than  appear  in  boots :  these  will 
do  for  Paris,  but  not  for  England. 

The  meeting  of  the  British  Association  is  passing  off  very  well.  I  have 
visited  all  the  sections,  and  received  particular  attentions;  I  do  not,  how- 
ever, think  the  benefits  from  it  to  be  exactly  of  the  nature  usually  attributed. 
I  doubt  if  any  important  suggestions  are  here  made,  or  new  lights  struck  out. 
It  affords  a  stage  on  which  men  like  Babbage,  Lardner,  Whewell,  &c.  may 
fret  their  hour,  —  and  I  have  verily  seen  some  fretting  from  all,  —  and  it 
helps  to  excite  the  public  interest  in  the  great  concerns  of  science.  In 
this  point  of  view  I  hold  it  good.  Three  thousand  people  are  collected 
together,  who  are  all  filled  with  notions  —  more  or  less  vague  —  of  the  great- 
ness and  importance  of  science,  and  of  the  value  of  the  honors  won  by  its 
successful  cultivation ;  but  I  doubt  if  many  go  away  much  instructed  by  it, 
or  with  any  positive  addition  to  their  stores.  Miss  Martineau  is  here  on  a 
visit  to  her  sister  married  in  Newcastle;  Dr.  Lardner  seems  a  coxcomb  and 
pertinacious  fellow.1 

My  present  arrangements  are  to  pass  from  here  to  Harperley  Park,  the 
seat  of  a  retired  barrister  of  fortune ;  then  to  Auckland  Castle,  the  seat  of 
the  Bishop  of  Durham,  and,  as  you  well  know,  one  of  the  great  feudal  resi- 
dences of  England;  then  to  the  seat  of  Mr.  Blackett,2  the  member  for  the 
County  of  Northumberland ;  and  probably  then  to  Lord  Brougham's  and  the 
Lakes.  My  friend  at  Harperley  Park  has  invited  me  particularly  to  shoot 
grouse  on  his  moors.  You  will  understand  that  all  these  places  are  very  near 
each  other.  I  must  take  another  look  at  that  time-worn  priory,  standing  on 
a  jutting  rock,  with  the  lighthouse  close  by,  and  then  to  bed. 
As  ever,  your  affectionate  friend, 

Charles  Sumner. 


TO  GEORGE  S.  HILLARD. 

Oakwood,  Sept.  2,  1838. 
My  dear  Hillard,  —  Yours  of  several  dates,  July  23  and  27,  found  me 
at  Newcastle.  Glad  was  I,  even  in  that  feast  of  wise  men,  to  hear  of  you 
and  home  and  my  home  friends.  The  British  Association  had  just  concluded 
its  sittings,  but  the  philosophers  had  remained  to  attend  the  festival  of  a 
local  society,  at  which  the  Duke  of  Northumberland  or  the  Bishop  of  Durham 
has  to  preside.  I  was  also  invited;  but  went,  as  it  were,  incog.,  being  un- 
willing to  make  myself  an  object  for  attention.  What  was  my  surprise  when 
the  Bishop  of  Durham,8  proposing  the  health  of  the  distinguished  foreign- 
ers present,  singled  me  as  the  object  of  some  particular  remarks,  which 
were  received  with  no  little  applause.     In  the  most  unpremeditated  manner 

i  Dionysius  Lardner,  1793-1859.  After  his  escapade  in  1840,  he  came  to  the  United 
States,  and  delivered  lectures  until  1845,  when  he  took  up  his  residence  in  Paris. 

2  Christopher  Blackett. 

3  Edward  Maltby,  1770-1859.  He  became  Bishop  of  Durham  in  1836.  A  note  of  the 
Bishop,  written  Dec.  22,  1838,  refers  to  Sumner's  visit  to  Auckland  Castle,  and  desires  it  to 
be  repeated.    Another,  of  March  15,  1839,  invites  him  to  dine  at  28  Curzor  Street,  London 


346  MEMOIR  OF  CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1838 

I  expressed  my  thanks.  I  observe  that  my  remarks  have  been  reported  in  a 
variety  of  journals.  The  "  Newcastle  Courant, "  however,  contains  the  best 
report  or  abridgment.  I  have  sent  that  paper  to  you,  and  from  its  report 
you  may  form  some  idea  of  the  tone  of  the  Lord  Bishop's  remarks  about  me, 
and  my  reply.  You  will  understand  that  the  occasion  was  a  capital  one  for 
an  extended  speech ;  but  when  you  consider  the  briefness  of  my  remarks  you 
will  observe  that  I  spoke  in  the  presence  of  all  that  was  most  distinguished 
in  science  in  the  British  Empire,  —  Herschell,  Babbage,  Whewell,  Sedgwick, 
Peacock,  Buckland,  &c. ;  and  that  it  well  became  me  to  confine  myself  to  the 
strict  duty  of  returning  thanks. 

[The  "  Newcastle  Courant  "  of  Aug.  31,  1838, 1  reported  the  speeches  at  a 
dinner  of  the  British  Association  for  the  Promotion  of  Science,  at  which  Pro- 
fessor Bache,  of  Philadelphia,  and  Sumner  were  guests,  together  with  Profes- 
sor Ehrenberg,  of  Berlin.  The  Bishop  of  Durham  presided  at  the  dinner. 
In  the  course  of  his  remarks,  he  said:  — 

"  There  was  such  an  identity  of  feeling  and  good  sense,  —  such  an  iden- 
tity of  every  thing  that  had  been  considered  almost  peculiar  to  Britain  in 
America, — that  they  could  not  consider  each  other  as  aliens  or  foreigners. 
They  lived  in  distant  parts  of  the  world,  it  was  true;  but  improvements  in 
science  have  brought  Philadelphia  and  New  York  within  a  short  distance  of 
this  country;  almost  as  short,  in  point  of  time,  as  within  a  century  ago  people 
could  have  gone  from  Newcastle  to  London.  It  was,  therefore,  with  great 
satisfaction  he  brought  before  them  Professors  Bache  and  Ehrenberg;  and  he 
had  likewise  peculiar  pleasure,  on  this  occasion,  in  mentioning  the  name  of 
Mr.  Charles  Sumner,  who  had  been  travelling  in  England,  not  perhaps  for 
improvement  in  the  abstract  sciences,  in  which  he  had  no  doubt  he  would  be 
well  qualified  to  shine,  but  for  the  important  object  of  making  himself  ac- 
quainted with  our  laws.  He  had  been  introduced  to  his  learned  friend  and 
pupil,  Mr.  Baron  Alderson,  who  spoke  of  him  as  he  (the  chairman)  would 
not  repeat  in  his  presence.  So  great  had  been  his  zeal,  that  he  had  travelled 
part  of  the  circuit  with  some  of  our  best  judges,  —  Lord  Denman,  Mr.  Baron 
Parke,  and  Mr.  Baron  Alderson.  He  rejoiced  to  add  that  he  was  here  among 
them  at  last,  and  he  should  endeavor  individually  to  testify  to  him  the  high 
sense  which  he  attached  to  any  recommendation  of  such  a  man  as  Mr.  Baron 
Alderson.  In  the  mean  time,  it  was  gratifying  to  know  that  he  was  among 
them,  profiting  by  their  labors  and  partaking  of  the  enlightened  entertain- 
ment which  it  was  their  pride  and  gratification  to  give,  together  with  a  hearty 
welcome  to  their  learned  friends  (applause)." 

After  replies  by  the  two  professors,  Mr.  Sumner  said:  "  After  the  remarks 
which  had  been  made  by  his  learned  friend  who  had  just  sat  down,  he  felt 
that  to  add  any  thing  would  place  him  under  the  imputation  of  attempting 

l  The  "Law  Reporter,"  Nov.,  1838,  Vol.  I.  pp.  244-245,  edited  by  P-  W.  Chandler,  re- 
published this  report  with  a  brief  preface,  in  which  it  said  that  Mr.  Sumner  "has  been 
everywhere  received  in  a  manner  highly  gratifying  to  his  American  friends,  but  not  in  the 
least  surprising  to  those  acquainted  with  him."  The  report  was  also  printed  in  the  Boston 
"  Advertiser"  of  Nov.  28,  1838. 


JEt.  27.J  SPEECH  AT  NEWCASTLE.  347 

to  'gild  refined  gold.'  But  still  the  remarks  which  the  venerable  chairman 
had  done  him  the  honor  to  make  regarding  himself,  required  the  sincere 
acknowledgments  of  his  heart.  He  thanked  his  Lordship  that  he  had  not  held 
him  as  a  foreigner;  for,  indeed,  if  any  one  thing  above  another  could  give  an 
American  pleasure,  he  might  say  it  would  be  to  come  to  Great  Britain  and 
find  himself  authorized  to  claim  kindred  here,  and  have  his  claims  allowed 
(applause).  Speaking  their  language,  derived  from  them,  enjoying  their 
laws,  and,  he  might  say,  almost  their  political  institutions,  — for  all  that  had 
been  held  sacred  during  all  their  constitutional  history  remained  with  his 
countrymen,  and  Magna  Charta  was  perpetuated  in  the  liberal  institutions  of 
America,  —  were  they  not,  he  would  ask  his  Lordship,  their  brothers  (ap- 
plause)? Might  not  an  American  come  here,  and  find,  indeed,  that  he  was 
coming  home,  —  coming,  as  it  were,  to  his  father's  hearthstone?  He  went  to 
their  churchyard,  and  there,  perchance,  he  found  his  father's  monument. 
Such  men  indeed  were  relations,  and  on  such  accounts  he  rejoiced  that  the 
chairman  had  not  held  them  as  foreigners,  but  greeted  them  as  brothers. 
Might  he  say  then,  in  this  presence,  so  learned  and  so  honorable,  that  of  all 
countries  England  was  the  pride  of  Americans?  They  all  rejoiced  that  they 
came  from  her  and  of  her;  they  all  rejoiced  in  her  glory,  and  in  her  devotion 
to  the  sciences;  and  they  gladly  came  up  to  such  a  high  festival  as  this,  — 
such  a  liberal  association,  where  the  good  of  mankind  was  consulted  in  its 
most  important  aspect.  Might  he  presume  to  look  still  further  toward  the 
gradual  strengthening  of  the  intercourse  between  the  two  countries;  and,  in- 
deed, anticipate  the  day  when  the  Association  would  not  merely  travel  from 
Liverpool  to  Newcastle,  and  from  Newcastle  to  Birmingham,  but  have  the  whole 
world  for  its  arena  (loud  applause) ;  when  they  might  see  the  meeting  pass- 
ing over  from  Birmingham  to  Philadelphia,  and  from  Philadelphia  back  to 
Newcastle?  Then,  indeed,  they  would  have  an  alliance  greater  and  stronger 
than  parchment  or  treaties;  an  alliance  producing  a  scientific  union,  practi- 
cal and  theoretical,  between  both  countries  (applause).  He  had  been  betrayed 
into  saying  more  words  than  he  ought;  but  the  very  kind  manner  in  which 
his  Lordship  had  done  him  the  honor  to  speak  of  his  humble  self,  had  so 
tempted  him  that  personally  he  could  not  say  less,  while  the  manner  in  which 
his  country  had  been  mentioned  would  have  justified  him  in  saying  more. 
Might  he  conclude  by  expressing  to  his  Lordship  personally  his  sincere  ac- 
knowledgments, and  likewise  his  thanks  to  the  gentlemen  present,  in  common 
with  his  learned  friends  (loud  applause)?  "] 

From  Newcastle  I  went  in  the  coach  of  the  Bishop  of  Durham  to  Auck* 
land  Palace.1  This  is  the  celebrated  seat  of  the  most  powerful  bishop  of 
England.  It  is  a  venerable  castle,  with  a  beautiful  park  about  it,  stocked 
with  deer.  Here  I  was  hospitably  entertained  for  two  days,  and  pressed  to 
stay  longer,  and  cordially  invited  there  whenever  I  could  come,  on  this  visit 

1  Auckland  Castle  is  described  in  Howitt's  ''Visits  to  Remarkable  Places,"  Vol.  I., 
pp.  252,  253;  and  Murray's  "Handbook  for  Durham  and  Northumberland,"  pp.  71-73. 
Among  its  pictures  are  Titian's  " Cornaro  Family,"  and  Spagnoletto's  "Jacob  and  the 
Twelve  Patriarchs." 


348  MEMOIR  OF  CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1838. 

or  any  future  visit  to  England.  You  know  that  this  bishop  is  the  venerable 
Dr.  Maltby,  the  friend  of  Parr,  so  renowned  in  Greek.  Chantrey,  the  sculp- 
tor, once  killed  two  woodcocks  at  one  shot  at  Holkham.  Old  Coke  was  so 
delighted  that  he  vowed  a  monument  on  the  spot  to  be  made  by  Chantrey 
himself;  and  all  the  classical  world  were  invited  to  offer  epigrams  in  Greek,  — 
or,  at  least,  all  came  forward.  Alderson,  Wellesley,  Brougham,  Maltby,  &c. 
contributed ;  and  the  venerable  bishop  told  me  that  Brougham  was  writing 
his  while  he  was  Lord  Chancellor;  and,  on  writing  a  line,  used  to  send  an 
express  with  it  to  his  (Maltby's)  house,  to  know  if  it  was  correct.  The  fre- 
quency and  urgency  of  these  messages  from  the  Lord  Chancellor  excited  the 
attention  of  Dr.  M.'s  neighbors,  who  thought  that  one  of  the  archbishoprics 
was  to  be  vacated,  and  that  arrangements  were  making  for  the  promotion  of 
Dr.  Maltby.  The  venerable  bishop  told  me  that  he  believed  his  (Dr. 
M.'s)  verses  were  considered  the  best.  I  cannot  repeat  all  the  interesting 
classical  and  personal  anecdotes  which  I  hear.  I  left  this  venerable  castle 
with  regret,  and  went  to  Harperley  Park ;  where  I  was  engaged  to  pass  a 
couple  of  days  with  Mr.  Wilkinson,1  the  Recorder  of  Newcastle  (he  is  no 
relative  of  Mr.  Wilkinson,  Judge  S.'s  correspondent).  Here  I  rode  on  horse- 
back with  young  ladies,  visited  castles  in  the  neighborhood,  listened  to  hunt- 
ing stories  and  the  accounts  by  the  ladies  of  the  leaps  over  hedges  and  fences 
which  they  took  in  pursuit  of  the  fox ;  and  then  passed  on  to  Oakwood,  the 
seat  of  C.  Blackett,  Esq.,  the  M.  P.  for  the  County  of  Northumberland. 
This  is  on  the  Tyne,  and  is  about  twelve  miles  from  Newcastle.  After  pass- 
ing a  couple  of  days  here,  I  shall  go  to  Archdeacon  Scott's,  in  Northumber- 
land, on  his  urgent  invitation  to  shoot  grouse.  The  sport  of  shooting  with 
a  distinguished  clergyman,  who  assured  me  that  he  had  the  best  moors 
in  all  England,  and  his  interesting  conversation,  have  tempted  me  to  this 
visit.  Scott  is  an  old  friend  of  Parr  and  Home  Tooke,  and  is  one  of  the 
dramatis  personal  intended  in  the  colloquies  of  the  "  Diversions  of  Purley." 
From  there  I  pass  to  Brougham  Hall;  then  to  Mr.  Marshall's,  &c. ;  then  to 
Melrose,  near  Abbotsford,  on  a  visit  to  Sir  David  Brewster.  I  cannot  enu- 
merate the  number  of  invitations  which  I  have  received  —  more  than  thirty 
—  from  men  of  all  opinions  and  stations.  I  have  written  Felton  from  Auck- 
land Castle.     He  will  tell  you  about  the  place. 

As  ever,  affectionately  yours,  C.   S. 

P.  S.    Crowd  your  letters  with  accounts  of  all  my  friends  and  every  thing 
in  which  I  take  an  interest. 


TO  GEORGE  S.  HILLARD. 

Brougham  Hall,  Sept.  6,  1838. 
My  dear  Hillard,  —  It  is  now  midnight,  and  I  have  just  said  "  gool 
night "  to  my  noble  host,  after  a  long  evening  filled  by  incessant  conversa- 

i  Mr.  Wilkinson  invited  Sumner,  Dec.  21,  1838,  to  pass  Sunday  at  Harrow,  and  see  the 
school  and  church:  and  later  renewed  the  invitation. 


,Et.  27.]  VISIT  AT  BROUGHAM  HALL.  349 

tion.  Yesterday  I  passed  at  the  Rectory  of  the  venerable  Archdeacon 
Scott,  —  a  friend  of  Home  Tooke  and  Parr,  —  and,  on  his  invitation  and 
in  his  clerical  company,  disguised  in  old  clothes  loaned  for  the  occasion,  and 
weighed  down  by  heavy  shoes,  went  on  the  fells  and  moors  in  his  neighbor- 
hood to  shoot  grouse  and  partridges.  Our  dog  started  several  coveys;  but 
my  gun  missed,  as  also  did  that  of  the  dignitary  of  the  Church,  and  I  con- 
tented myself  with  peppering  to  death  a  poor  hare !  I  am  no  Nimrod,  —  as 
you  well  know,  —  though  my  parson  is,  and  I  can  well  bear  the  mortification 
of  an  empty  game-bag  in  such  company.1  While  we  were  on  the  moors  it 
rained  constantly,  and  the  shower  has  been  descending  all  day.  In  the 
rain,  however,  I  left  the  archdeacon  this  morning,  and  mounted  on  his  horse, 
and  with  his  groom  in  attendance  (my  luggage  being  previously  sent  on), 
spattered  over  the  moors  and  valleys  of  Northumberland,  then  took  an  open 
gig,  and  at  three  o'clock  drove  into  the  court-yard  —  all  surrounded  by  bat- 
tlements—  of  Brougham  Hall.2  I  was  thoroughly  wet,  and  covered  with 
mud.  On  my  mentioning  my  situation  to  his  Lordship,  who  kindly  re- 
ceived me  in  the  hall,  he  himself  at  once  showed  me  to  my  bed-room, 
where  I  enjoyed  the  comfort  of  a  complete  change  of  dress.  After  I 
came  downstairs,  he  left  me  in  the  library,  and  went  about  writing  letters, 
which  were  to  leave  by  the  mail  before  dinner.  He  wrote  more  than  the 
number  which  he  could  frank, — that  is,  ten,  —  and  at  six  o'clock  was 
in  the  library  dressed  for  dinner.  The  only  person  besides  myself  was  an 
old  familiar  friend,  a  clergyman  (who  brought  with  him  as  a  present  to  the 

1  Archdeacon  T.  H.  Scott  wrote,  Feb.  5,  1839,  from  Whitfield  Rectoiy,  Haydon  Bridge, 
Northumberland  :  "  If  you  received  any  pleasure  here,  either  in  shooting  at  grouse  or  in 
killing  a  hare,  I  do  assure  you  the  pleasure  I  enjoyed  in  your  company,  when  you  were  kind 
enough  to  favor  a  poor  mountain  curate  with  a  visit,  was  as  great.  I  not  only  yield  to  you 
as  a  matter  of  courtesy,  being  my  guest,  the  important  question  as  to  who  killed  the  hare, 
but  I  have  another  reason  for  doing  so.  For  the  first  time,  I  believe,  in  the  Annals  of  the 
Parish  since  it  was  granted  by  Ada,  Countess  of  Northumberland,  in  the  reign  of  Henry  II., 
to  her  almoner,  Matthew  de  "Whitfield,  there  now  stands  recorded  in  the  Game-Book,  '  One 
hare :  Mr.  Sumner,  a  Republican  born.''  "  The  archdeacon  volunteered  a  letter  of  introduction 
to  Count  Albrizzi,  of  Venice,  in  which  he  commended  Sumner  as  "  a  man  of  great  talent,  and 
in  search  of  literature  and  all  that  is  worth  seeing;"  and  another  to  Tomaso  Morenigo 
Soranzo,  of  an  ancient  Venetian  family ;  but  neither  letter  was  used. 

2  Lord  Brougham  was  born  in  1779  and  died  in  1868.  His  mother,  Eleanora,  the  only 
child  of  Rev.  James  Syme,  and  on  her  mother's  side  the  niece  of  Robertson  the  historian, 
died  Dec.  31, 1839,  at  the  age  (as  given  in  Burke's  Peerage)  of  eighty-nine.  His  Lordship's 
daughter,  an  only  child,  died  Nov.  30, 1839,  at  the  age  of  seventeen.  He  bought,  in  1840,  an 
estate  near  Cannes,  France,  and  built  upon  it  a  house  which  he  called  "Chateau  Eleanor 
Louise,"  in  memory  of  his  daughter,  to  whom  tributes  on  its  walls  were  inscribed  by  himself 
and  his  friends.  Campbell's  "  Life  of  Brougham, "  ch.  vi.  and  viii.  He  died  at  this  retreat, 
where  he  was  accustomed  to  pass  the  winter  season.  In  1838,  he  was  writing  "  Sketches  of 
Statesmen  of  the  Time  of  George  III.,"  which-were  published,  1839-43.  He  invited  Sumner 
to  dine  with  him  at  4  Grafton  Street,  London,  in  February,  1839.  In  the  letter  introducing 
him  to  Baron  Alderson,  he  said :  "  This  will  be  delivered  by  C.  Sumner  of  the  American  bar, 
whose  reports  I  have  read  with  satisfaction;  who  is  also  editor  of  the  'Jurist.'  He  is  an 
estimable  man,  and  I  am  desirous  of  his  being  known  to  you."  Sumner  received  from  Lord 
Brougham  many  courtesies  in  June  and  July,  1857,  and  in  October  visited  him  at  Brougham 
Hall,  when  his  Lordship  gave  him  some  souvenirs, — a  medal  portrait  of  himself,  and 
colored  prints  of  Edmund  Burke  when  young  (Sir  Joshua  Reynolds),  and  of  the  Madonna 
(Raphael). 


350  MEMOIR  OF   CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1838 

ex-chancellor  a  bottle  of  rum  upwards  of  fifty  years  old),  though  Lord  Chief- 
Justice  Tindal  and  Lord  Moncreiff 1  (the  latter  the  great  Scotch  judge  and 
lawyer)  were  expected.  The  truly  venerable  and  interesting  mother  of  his 
Lordship,  —  now  eighty-six  years  old, — was  in  the  dining-room  when  we 
entered,  and  presided  at  the  table.  Never  did  I  see  a  person  who  bore  her 
years  so  well.  She  seemed  a  fit  mother  for  a  distinguished  son.  Her  man- 
ners were  easy  and  even  graceful,  with  very  little  of  the  constraint  of  age. 
She  refused  my  proffered  assistance  in  helping  the  soup,  though  she  after- 
wards condescended  to  allow  me  to  mangle  a  partridge.  She  is  tall,  has 
sharp  features,  and  an  aquiline  nose.  Her  countenance  is  much  more  refined 
and  intellectual  than  her  son's.  You  doubtless  know  that  she  is  the  niece 
of  the  historian  Robertson.  Lady  Brougham  and  her  daughter  are  at  a 
watering  place  at  the  south.  During  the  dinner,  his  Lordship  was  constant 
in  his  attentions  to  his  mother,  addressing  her  as  "  Mother,"  and  urging  her 
to  eat  of  particular  dishes.  I  heard  Mrs.  Brougham  address  her  son  as 
"  Lord  Brougham."  I  could  hardly  make  up  my  mind  and  my  tongue  to 
address  this  venerable  woman  as  "  Mrs.  Brougham,"  which  is  all  that  belongs 
to  her,  and  then  speak  to  her  son  as  "  My  Lord."  At  table  the  conversation 
turned  on  light  matters,  —  the  great  scarcity  of  game,  the  merits  of  some 
old  Madeira  (the  gift  of  Cutlar  Fergusson),  of  a  blackcock  (the  gift  of  Lord 
Anglesey),  and  of  the  rum  (the  valuable  contribution  of  the  clergyman). 
Besides  these  there  was  a  variety  of  topics  arising  from  familiarity  with  the 
parson,  and  reminiscences  of  common  acquaintances.  Mrs.  Brougham  re- 
tired very  soon  after  the  cloth  was  removed.  His  Lordship  took  very  little 
wine,  less  than  I  have  seen  any  gentleman  take  at  the  head  of  his  table  in 
England ;  but  if  he  have  not  that  vice,  which  has  been  attributed  to  him,  — 
and  1  fully  believe  that  he  has  it  not,  — -he  has  another  which  is,  perhaps, 
as  bad;  certainly  it  is  bad  and  vulgar  beyond  expression,  — I  mean  swear- 
ing. I  have  dined  in  company  nearly  every  day  since  I  have  been  in 
England,  and  I  do  not  remember  to  have  met  a  person  who  swore  half  so 
much  as  Lord  Brougham;  —  and  all  this  in  conversation  with  an  aged 
clergyman !  His  manner  was  rapid,  hurried,  and  his  voice  very  loud.  He 
seemed  uneasy  and  restless;  and,  of  course,  made  me  feel  the  same.  His 
language,  as  you  may  well  suppose,  was  vigorous  and  to  the  point.  He 
told  some  capital  stories  of  King  William,  from  which  I  should  infer,  not- 
withstanding all  the  reports  to  the  contrary,  that  he  was  on  good  terms 
with  that  monarch.  You  remember  Denman's  famous  appeal  on  the 
Queen's  trial,  alluding  to  the  slanders  of  the  Duke  of  Clarence,  "  Come 
forth,  thou  slanderer!"2  Brougham  said  that  the  Duke  of  York,  sitting 
in  one  corner  of  the  house,  said  to  a  peer  near  him,  "  There  is  my  brother 
William!  he  is  always  in  some  scrape;  "  while  the  Duke  of  Clarence,  sitting 
on  the  other  side  of  the  house,  whispered  to  his  friend,  "  My  brother  Fred- 
erick is  always  saying  some  d d  absurd  thing,"  — each  supposing  the  other 

1  Sir  James  Wellwood  (Lord  Moncreiff),  1776-1851 ;  a  Lord  of  Session  and  Justiciary  of 
Scotland.  His  son  has  been  Lord-Advocate,  and  held  other  high  posts,  judicial  and 
political. 

2  Life  of  Lord  Denman,  Vol.  I.  pp.  136-138. 


JEt.  27.]  BROUGHAM'S  CONVERSATION  351 

referred  to  by  Denman!  After  dinner  the  conversation  turned  upon  politics, 
and  upon  Canadian  affairs  in  particular.  His  Lordship  seemed  to  exult 
over  Lord  Durham,  and  to  think  that  he  had  him  "  on  the  hip."  He  praised 
Roebuck  as  a  person  of  great  talent ;  and  spoke  of  Erskine  as  a  very  great 
man.  When  I  asked  who  at  the  bar  now  was  most  like  him,  he  said: 
"Nobody:  there  is  a  degenerate  race  now;  there  are  no  good  speakers  at 
the  bar,  except  Sir  William  Follett  and  Mr.  Pemberton."  He  spoke  of 
Lord  Langdale  as  a  person  who  had  never  done  any  thing,  ai*d  who  never 
would  do  any  thing,  and  who  was  an  ordinary  man.  He  said  that  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Austin,1  —  who  had  just  returned  from  Malta,  where  Mr.  Austin  went 
to  reform  the  law, — would  probably  cease  to  be  reformers,  having  experi- 
enced the  practical  difficulties  of  reform,  and  would  retire  disheartened  from 
the  cause.  In  making  this  remark,  he  obviously  intended  to  allude  to  a  sup- 
posed want  of  perseverance  and  resolution  on  the  part  of  these  persons.  A 
dinner  at  Lansdowne  House,  he  said,  was  a  great  cure  for  radicalism.  He 
thought  Ballantyne  had  refuted  Lockhart,  and  that  the  latter  as  well  as 
Scott  would  suffer  in  reputation.  Money  affairs  were  Scott's  weak  point. 
The  illness  of  Lord  Derby,  of  which  we  received  the  intelligence  to-day, 
and  his  expected  death,  he  characterized  as  great  news;  "for,"  said  he, 
"Ned  Stanley2  goes  into  the  Lords."  It  was  thus  that  he  passed  from 
topic  to  topic,  expressing  himself  always  with  force,  correctness,  and  facility 
unrivalled;  but,  I  must  say,  with  a  manner  not  only  far  from  refined,  but 
even  vulgar.  He  had  no  gentleness  or  suavity;  neither  did  he  show  any  of 
the  delicate  attentions  of  the  host.  He  professed  an  interest  in  America,  but 
did  not  seem  to  care  to  speak  about  it.  He  said  that  he  should  certainly 
visit  us,  for,  with  the  present  facilities  of  intercourse,  it  were  a  shame  in  an 
Englishman  to  be  ignorant  of  the  practical  working  of  our  institutions.  "  I 
am  a  republican,"  said  he;  "or  rather,  I  am  for  entrusting  to  the  people  the 
largest  possible  degree  of  power."  I  doubt  if  he  knows  much  about  our 
affairs  or  our  public  men.  When  I  mentioned  Webster's  name,  he  said, 
"Yes,  I  have  understood  that  Webster  is  a  clever  man;"  and  Clay's  did 
not  seem  to  call  up  any  particular  idea.  Of  Judge  Story  he  spoke  more  at 
length  than  of  any  other,  and  expressed  the  strongest  regard  for  him ;  and 
yet  I  do  not  think  that  he  is  aware  of  the  Judge's  position  among  us,  and  I 
know  that  he  is  ignorant  of  several  of  his  works.  He  did  not  speak  of  the 
law,  though  when  I  saw  him  at  his  house  in  Belgrave  Square  he  said,  "  Come 
and  see  me,  and  we  will  talk  about  codification  and  the  law;  "  though  I  had 
never  opened  my  mouth  to  him  about  either. 

I  have  not  sketched  the  foregoing  lines  in  the  hope  of  tracing  the  conver- 
sation of  this  remarkable  man;  but  simply  to  give  you  by  flashes,  as  it  were, 

1  John  Austin,  1797-1860;  author  of  "The  Province  of  Jurisprudence  Determined; "  and 
Mrs.  Sarah  Austin  of  the  Taylor  family  of  Norwich,  the  translator  of  Ranke's  "History  of 
the  Popes,"  and  other  German  works.  Mrs.  Austin  died  in  1867.  Their  daughter,  Lady 
Duff  Gordon,  well-known  in  literature,  died  in  Egypt,  in  1869. 

2  The  fourteenth  Earl  of  Derby,  1799-1869  ;  eminent  as  statesman  and  scholar,  serving 
many  years  in  the  House  of  Commons  before  entering  the  Peers  in  1844  as  Baron  Stanley; 
three  times  Premier;  and  the  translator  of  the  "Iliad."     His  father  survived  till  1851. 


352  MEMOIR  OF   CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1838. 

a  momentary  view  of  his  manner  and  character.  The  result  of  my  intercourse 
with  him  thus  far  is  that  I  like  the  man  less,  though  I  admire  his  powers  as 
ever  before.  I  could  not  fail  to  perceive,  in  the  rapidity  of  his  thought,  the 
readiness  of  his  language,  and  the  variety  of  his  topics,  no  slight  confirma- 
tion of  the  received  opinion  with  regard  to  his  versatility  and  universal  at- 
tainments. The  gentleman,  who  is  now  staying  here,  assured  me  that  he 
had  often  received  long  letters  from  his  Lordship,  written,  currente  calamo,  in 
correct  Latin;  and  a  friend  told  me  that  he  once  stood  behind  him,  when  a 
barrister  on  the  Northern  Circuit,  and  saw  him  scrawl  a  Greek  ode  on  his  desk 
in  court.  You  may  say  credat  Judaeus.  I  have  been  told  that  the  sketches 
of  character,  which  form  such  a  remarkable  ornament  of  the  new  publication 
of  his  speeches  (do  read  these),  were  written  in  his  carriage  while  posting 
to  the  south  of  France;  and  I  happen  to  know  from  another  source  that  he 
was  paying  his  postilions  double,  and  I  doubt  not  swearing  at  the  same 
time,  to  make  them  go  faster ! 

I  am  almost  sorry  that  I  have  seen  Lord  B.,  for  I  can  no  longer  paint  him 
to  my  mind's  eye  as  the  pure  and  enlightened  orator  of  Christianity,  civiliza- 
tion, and  humanity.  I  see  him  now,  as  before,  with  powers  such  as  belong 
to  angels :  why  could  I  not  have  found  him  with  an  angel's  purity,  gentleness, 
and  simplicity?  I  must  always  admire  his  productions  as  models  of  art;  but 
I  fear  that  I  shall  distrust  his  sincerity  and  the  purity  of  his  motives.  I  think 
that  he  is  about  throwing  himself  again  among  the  people,  and  accepting  their 
leadership.  Two  letters  that  I  have  received  from  Lord  B.  have  been  signed 
"  H.  Brougham,"  and  I  have  heard  of  his  signing  so  frequently.  He  spoke 
to  me  in  the  most  disparaging  terms  of  the  aristocracy;  but  I  shall  be  afraid 
that  he  will  not  speak  so  much  for  truth's  sake  as  to  promote  his  own  fame 
and  power,  or  perhaps  to  gratify  a  personal  pique.1  Certainly,  in  the  society 
in  which  I  have  moved  I  have  heard  but  one  opinion  expressed  with  regard 
to  the  dishonesty  and  malevolence  which  have  characterized  his  late  conduct ; 
and  his  spite  towards  Lord  Durham  is  represented  as  diabolical.  In  illustra- 
tion of  this,  I  have  heard  anecdotes  which  I  have  neither  time  nor  space  to 
relate.  One  of  these  is  striking.  Last  winter  it  was  supposed  for  a  while 
that  an  invention  had  been  found  out  which  would  supersede  the  use  of  coal, 
upon  which  Lord  Durham's  immense  income  depends.  Brougham  is  said  to 
have  gone  about  telling  of  it,  and  rubbing  his  hands,  saying:  "  Old  Durham 
is  a  beggar!  Old  Durham  is  a  beggar!  "  Perhaps  all  these  idiosyncracies 
may  be  better  understood  and  more  charitably  viewed,  when  it  is  known,  as 
it  is  not  generally  in  England,  that  Brougham's  father  died  insane,  and  that 
he  has  a  sister  who  is  so  still.  I  am  disposed  to  believe  that  there  is  in  him 
a  nervousness  and  immense  activity  which  is  near  akin  to  insanity,  and 
which  at  present  jangles  the  otherwise  even  measures  of  his  character. 

Friday  Morning,  Sept.  7. 
I  write  this  in  Brougham's  library  and  study,  —  a  most  beautiful  apart- 
ment, with  panels  of  old  oak  black  with  age,  and  with  a  rich  ceiling  of  the  same 

1  The  unlovely  side  of  Lord  Brougham's  character  is  brought  out  quite  distinctly  in  the 
account  of  his  treatment  of  Macaulay.    Trevelyan's  "Life  of  Lord  Macaulay." 


2ET.27.]  BROUGHAM'S  MOTHER.  353 

material,  emblazoned  with  numerous  heraldic  escutcheons  in  gold.  It  is  a 
room  that  you  would  love;  and  I  now  sit  in  a  beautiful  bow-window,  which 
commands  the  fair  lawn  and  terraces  about  the  house,  and  the  distant  moun- 
tains which  give  a  character  to  the  scenery  of  this  countiy,  and  in  whose 
bosom  lie  the  far-famed  lakes  of  England.  At  breakfast  the  next  morning 
I  was  gladdened  by  your  letter  of  Aug.  10  and  its  enclosure,  and  Judge 
Story's  generous  double  letter  of  Aug.  11 ;  also  Cushing's  and  Lieber's. 
Think  of  these  meeting  me  at  the  breakfast-table  of  Lord  Brougham !  I  took 
the  liberty  of  reading  to  his  Lordship  what  Judge  S.  said  of  his  judicial  opin- 
ions, —  namely,  that  they  were  remarkable  monuments  of  judicial  reasoning, 
—  and  his  Lordship  seemed  much  gratified,  and  repeated  the  kind  expres- 
sions which  he  had  employed  last  evening  about  Judge  S.  He  added,  that 
his  work  on  the  "  Conflict  of  Laws  "  enjoyed  a  reputation  and  authority  here 
which  caused  it  to  be  cited  almost  as  a  judgment  of  court.  His  mind,  how- 
ever, did  not  rest  on  law  or  on  America ;  but  quickly  reverted  to  topics  of 
interest  between  him  and  his  friend,  and  which  were  of  great  interest  to  me, 
inasmuch  as  they  illustrated  the  character  of  this  wonderful  man,  and  as  they 
brought  out  much  personal  anecdote.  Nothing  was  discussed,  and  no  opin- 
ions expressed,  except  about  individuals ;  and  of  these  he  expressed  himself 
with  the  greatest  freedom.  The  late  Duke  of  Gloucester  he  styled  ' '  a  d — d  bore 
and  fool,"  and  told  an  odd  story  of  the  duke  extracting  at  table  from  Wilber- 
force,  by  means  of  blunt  and  princely  impertinence,  the  account  of  Necker 
offering  his  daughter,  Madame  de  Stael,  in  marriage  to  Pitt.  He  also  men- 
tioned that,  at  the  time  Lord  Chatham  made  his  celebrated  speech  against 
employing  Indians,1  Lord  Bute  had  in  his  possession  letters  from  Chatham, 
when  William  Pitt,  in  which  he  boasted  of  employing  Indians  successfully, 
and  exclaimed,  "  Sing  Io  Pcean  !  by  means  of  Indians  we  have  got  the  trick." 
Brougham,  you  know,  is  the  author  of  the  article  in  the  last  "  Edinburgh  " 
on  Chatham.2  He  spoke  of  the  article  at  table  this  morning,  and  seemed  to 
be  quite  interested  in  the  character  of  that  statesman.  He  thought  that  the 
authorship  of  "Junius"  would  never  be  discovered,  and  said  that  Home 
Tooke  said  "  the  author  must  have  been  a  man  in  office,  and  a  damned  ras- 
cal." The  Duke  of  Gloucester,  pleased  with  his  success  in  extracting  the  above 
affair  of  Necker  from  Wilberforce,  at  the  same  table  turned  round  to  Lord 
Grenville,  and  said,  "  My  Lord,  they  say  you  know  the  author  of  '  Junius.'  " 
No  answer;  and  the  question  was  impertinently  repeated.  "I  have  never 
said  so,"  was  the  reply  of  Lord  Grenville  in  a  very  decided  manner;  and 
silence  reigned  in  the  company  for  more  than  five  minutes.  After  breakfast, 
I  sat  in  the  library  talking  with  Mrs.  Brougham,  who  told  me  that  she  was 
eightyrsix.  She  said  that  she  thought  "  the  efforts  for  slave  emancipation 
were  the  greatest  and  most  honorable  thing  of  Henry's  life."  When  I  said 
that  I  had  the  pleasure  of  hearing  his  last  speech  on  that  important  subject, 
she  added,  "  And  a  good  speech  it  was."     Was  it  not  delightful  to  listen  to 

1  Speech  of  Nov.  18,  1777,  in  reply  to  Lord  Suffolk,  who  had  justified  "  the  use  of  all  the 
means  which  God  and  Nature  put  into  our  hands."  Goodrich's  "  Select  British  Eloquence," 
p.  138. 

a  July,  1838,  Vol.  LXVII.  pp.  436-460,  "Character  of  Lord  Chatham." 
vol.  i.  23 


354  MEMOIR   OF  CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1838. 

such  words  from  the  mother  of  such  a  son?  She  very  kindly  sent  for  his 
purse  as  Lord  Chancellor  (you  know  the  purse  is  a  perquisite  of  office),  a 
richly  wrought  bag,  which  costs  one  hundred  pounds,  and  in  which  the  Chan- 
cellor puts  the  great  seal  and  the  petitions  which  he  presents  to  the  King. 
She  said  that  once  the  Chancellor  apologized  to  his  Majesty  for  troubling 
him  with  so  many  petitions,  when  the  King  promptly  replied,  "  I  shall  be 
glad  to  see  you  take  any  thing  out  of -the  bag  except  the  great  seal."  She 
was  afraid  that  I  should  be  dull;  and  was  pleased  to  regret  that  there  was 
not  more  company  in  the  house  to  amuse  me.  My  recollections  of  this  woman 
will  be  of  the  most  charming  character. 

Hallstead's,  Sept.  7  (Evening). 

I  am  now  at  the  beautiful  seat  1  of  Mr.  John  Marshall,  the  former  member 
for  Yorkshire,  and  the  father  of  the  present  member  for  Carlisle.  Lord 
Brougham  was  engaged  to  pass  this  evening  and  to-morrow  with  the  Bishop 
of  Carlisle,  about  seventeen  miles  off;  so  I  took  my  leave.  He  was  busied  in 
his  studies,  with  a  quire  of  manuscripts  before  him,  and  with  five  or  six  books 
open  on  top  of  each  other,  the  upper  one  being  Greek;  I  thought  it  the 
44  Orations  of  Demosthenes."  2  He  franked  this  letter  to  you,  shook  me  cor- 
dially by  the  hand,  thanked  me  for  visiting  him,  apologized  for  not  waiting 
upon  me  to  the  door,  and  bade  me  good-by.  Before  I  had  reached  the  door 
of  the  room  where  he  was,  his  head  was  down  and  he  was  absorbed  in  his 
studies.  I  have  forgotten  to  tell  you  that  he  will  have  an  article  in  the  next 
44  Edinburgh,"  following  out  his  former  one,  and  replying  to  the  strictures 
upon  it,  particularly  those  of  Sir  Herbert  Taylor.  Such  was  my  visit  to 
Lord  B.  and  the  impression  it  has  made  on  my  mind.  I  have  written,  as 
you  will  perceive,  with  great  haste  as  well  as  freedom,  and  cannot  write  to 
any  of  my  other  friends  on  this  same  theme;  you  will,  therefore,  in  your 
discretion,  show  this  letter  to  those  who  may  take  an  interest  in  it,  remem- 
bering carefully  that  nothing  in  it  is  for  publication,  and  that  not  a  word 
must  escape  to  the  public. 

Hallstead's,  where  I  now  am,  is  a  beautiful  seat  on  the  banks  of  the 
Ulleswater  Lake.     From  here  I  shall  make  excursions  to  see  Wordsworth 
and  Southey,  and  then  pass  on  to  Sir  David  Brewster,  at  Melrose. 
As  ever,  most  affectionately  your  friend, 

Chas.  Sumner. 

P.  S.  Brougham  made  great  fun  of  the  thirty-nine  articles,  and  told 
the  story  of  a  naval  officer,  who,  in  the  House  of  Commons,  said:  "  I  am  for 
the  sixty-nine  articles."  "  Thirty-nine,  you  mean,"  was  the  cry.  The  gal- 
lant officer  replied:  "  Thirty-nine  or  sixty-nine,  I  am  for  the  articles."     Old 

1  Patter  dale  Hall,  where  one  of  the  best  views  of  Ulleswater  Lake  may  be  had.  Mur- 
ray's "  Handbook  for  the  Lakes,"  p.  107.  Mr.  Marshall  is  honorably  mentioned  in  Mill's 
"  Autobiography,"  p.  117.  His  note,  in  March,  1839,  written  from  41  Upper  Grosvenor  Street, 
London,  invites  Sumner  to  visit  with  him  pictures  of  English  artists,  Collins' s  paintings, 
and  Wilkie's  "Napoleon." 

2  He  was  then  preparing  his  translation  of  the  "De  Corona.." 


JEt.  27.J  VISIT  TO  WORDSWORTH.  355 

Pigott  used  to  say,  in  answer  to  all  questions  about  his  belief,  "  I  believe  in 
the  Church,  as  by  law  established." 

I  have  never  seen  Lord  B.'s  only  child,  a  daughter  of  fifteen;  but  I  know 
several  of  her  friends,  and  I  have  been  told  that  her  situation  is  lamentable. 
She  has  been  so  sickly  always  as  to  have  grown  up  without  education  or 
intercourse  with  the  world. 

Mr.  Marshall  was  gazetted  a  baronet  at  the  Coronation;  but  he  declined 
the  honor.  He  told  me  that  he  and  Lord  Fitzwilliam  spent  fifty-three  thou- 
sand pounds  in  preparing  to  contest  the  county  of  Yorkshire;  no  contest, 
however,  took  place.     This  was  in  1824. 

I  can  see  Helvellyn  from  the  windows  of  my  chamber  at  Hallstead's. 


TO  GEORGE  S.  HILLARD. 

Keswick,  Sept.  8, 1838. 
My  dear  Hillard,  —  I  have  seen  Wordsworth!1  Your  interest  in 
this  great  man,  and  the  contrast  which  he  presents  to  that  master  spirit2  I 
have  already  described  to  you,  induce  me  to  send  these  lines  immediately  on 
the  heels  of  my  last.  How  odd  it  seemed  to  knock  at  a  neighbor's  door,  and 
inquire,  "  Where  does  Mr.  Wordsworth  live?  "  Think  of  rapping  at  West- 
minster Abbey,  and  asking  for  Mr.  Shakspeare,  or  Mr.  Milton!  I  found  the 
poet  living,  as  I  could  have  wished,  with  worldly  comfort  about  him,  and 
without  show.  His  house  was  not  so  large  or  so  elegant  as  to  draw  the 
attention  from  its  occupant ;  and  more  truly  did  I  enjoy  myself,  for  the  short 
time  I  was  under  its  roof,  than  when  in  the  emblazoned  halls  of  Lord 
Brougham.  The  house  is  situated  on  the  avenue  leading  to  Rydal  Hall; 
and  the  poet  may  enjoy,  as  if  they  were  his  own,  the  trees  of  the  park  and 
the  ancestral  cawing  of  the  rooks  that  almost  darkened  the  air  with  their 
numbers.  His  house  and  grounds  are  pretty  and  neat;  and  he  was  so 
kind  as  to  attend  me  in  a  turn  round  his  garden,  pointing  out  several 
truly  delightful  views  of  the  lakes  and  mountains.  I  could  not  but  re- 
mark to  him,  however,  that  the  cawing  of  the  rooks  was  more  interesting 
to  me  than  even  the  remarkable  scenery  before  us.  The  house  itself  is  un- 
like those  in  which  I  have  been  received,  lately;  and  in  its  whole  style 
reminded  me  more  of  home  than  any  thing  I  have  yet  seen  in  England. 
I  took  tea  with  the  poet,  and,  for  the  first  time  since  I  have  been  in  this 
country,  saw  a  circle  round  a  table  at  this  meal;  and,  indeed,  it  was  at 
six  o'clock,  when  always  before  in  England  I  have  been  preparing  for 
dir  ner.  I  mention  these  little  things,  in  order  to  give  you  a  familiar  view 
of  Wordsworth.  I  cannot  sufficiently  express  to  you  my  high  gratification 
at  his  manner  and  conversation.  It  was  simple,  graceful,  and  sincere;  it 
had  all  those  things,  the  absence  of  which  in  Brougham  gave  me  so  much 
pain.     I  felt  that  I  was  conversing  with  a  superior  being;  yet  I  was  entirely 

l  1770-1860.  2  Brougham. 


356  MEMOIR  OF  CHARLES  SUMNER.  [1838. 

at  my  ease.  He  told  me  that  he  was  sixty-nine,  —  an  age  when,  in  the 
course  of  nature,  the  countenance  loses  the  freshness  of  younger  years;  but 
his  was  still  full  of  expression.  Conversation  turned  on  a  variety  of  topics: 
and  here  I  have  little  to  record;  for  there  were  no  salient  parts,  though  all 
was  sensible,  instructive,  and  refined.  He  spoke  warmly  on  the  subject  of 
copyright  and  of  slavery.  He  showed  me  the  American  edition  of  his  works 
in  one  volume,1  and  expressed  the. great  pleasure  it  had  given  him;  he 
thought  it  better  executed  than  any  work  of  the  kind  in  England  or  France. 
I  amused  him  not  a  little  by  telling  him  that  a  Frenchman  recommended 
himself  to  me,  on  my  arrival  in  Paris,  as  a  teacher  of  French,  by  saying 
that  he  had  taught  the  great  English  poet,  Wordsworth.  The  latter  as- 
sured me  that  he  had  not  had  a  French  instructor  since  his  dancing-master ! 
He  spoke  in  the  kindest  terms  of  Mr.  Washington  Allston,  and  inquired 
earnestly  after  his  health  and  circumstances.  He  regarded  him  as  the  first 
artist  of  the  age,  and  was  attached  to  him  by  two-fold  relations,  —  first, 
as  his  own  friend,  and  then  as  the  affectionate  friend  of  Coleridge.2  He 
desired  me  to  convey  to  him  his  warm  regards,  and  those  of  Mrs.  Words- 
worth and  all  his  family.  He  was  pleased  when  I  told  him  that  the  Ticknors 
had  arrived  safely  among  their  friends,  and  spoke  of  them  in  a  manner  that 
did  my  heart  good.  He  asked  me  to  "  spare  a  line  in  one  of  my  letters  to 
convey  to  them  his  affectionate  regards."  He  added  that  such  a  line  might 
be  dull  and  uninteresting  to  them.  I  ventured  to  reply  that  it  would  be  to 
them  and  their  friends  the  most  interesting  part  of  my  letter.  I  rely  upon  your 
conveying  to  Allston  and  the  Ticknors  the  kind  messages  of  Wordsworth. 

Such  was  Wordsworth.  My  visit  was  one  of  unmingled  pleasure,  until  I 
rose  to  depart;  then,  taking  my  hand,  he  said:  "  Some  of  your  country- 
men are  in  the  habit  of  publishing  sketches  of  the  persons  and  conversation 

of  literary  men  they  meet ;  and  one  of  them, ,  once  called  upon  me 

with  a  note  of  introduction  from  young  Hemans,  and  went  away  and  wrote 
about  my  appearance,  and  what  I  said.  He  was  very  unprepossessing  in 
manner;  and  did  not,  and  could  not,  understand  what  I  said.  In  his  publi- 
cation, he  has  foully  misrepresented  me."  The  venerable  poet  went  on  to 
say  that  such  conduct  was  dishonorable,  and  a  flagrant  breach  of  confidence ; 
and  that,  if  continued,  it  would  oblige  himself  and  others  to  deny  them- 
selves to  strangers.  What,  think  you,  were  my  feelings  on  hearing  this?  I 
felt  grieved  and  indignant  that  a  man  like  Wordsworth  should  have  been 
wounded  from  our  country ;  and  I  feared  lest  I  should  fall  under  the  suspicion 
of  seeking  his  society  in  order  to  fill  the  page  of  a  book,  or  the  corner  of  a 
newspaper.     What  I  said,  I  will  leave  you  to  imagine. 

As  ever  yours, 

Chas.  Sumner. 

1  By  Henry  Reed.    Philadelphia:  1837. 

2  Coleridge  and  Allston  became  intimate  friends  at  Rome,  between  1804  and  1808. 
Sumner  referred,  in  his  oration  of  Aug.  27,  1846,  to  their  intimacy  at  this  time.  Works, 
Vol.  I.  276. 


;Et.  27.]  THE  GUEST  OF  SIR  DAVID  BREWSTER.  357 

TO  GEORGE  S.  HILLARD. 

Allerly,  Melrose,  Sept.  12,  1838. 
Again,  my  dear  Hillard,  — I  am  now  the  guest  of  Sir  David  Brewster,1 
and  am  writing  in  my  bed-room,  which  looks  upon  the  Tweed  and  Melrose 
Abbey  and  the  Eildon  Hills.  Abbotsford  is  a  short  distance  above,  on  the 
opposite  side;  while  the  cottages  of  Lockhart,  and  that  fast  friend  of  Scott, 
Sir  Adam  Ferguson,2  are  within  sight.  I  spent  the  whole  of  to-day  in 
rambling  with  Sir  David  about  Melrose,  noting  all  the  spots  hallowed  by 
Scott's  friendship  or  genius,  and  finally  paying  my  pilgrimage  to  his  tomb  at 
Dryburgh  Abbey.  At  dinner  we  had  Sir  Adam  Ferguson  himself  and  Mr. 
Todd,  —  the  latter  a  Scottish  judge,  and  an  old  friend  of  Sir  Walter,  as  well 
as  Sir  Adam.  I  need  not  say  to  you  how  inexpressibly  interesting  was  the 
whole  day,  passed  in  such  company,  —  observing  house  after  house  in  whose 
hospitality  Sir  Walter  had  taken  pleasure,  and  whose  plantations  he  had 
watched;  then  regarding,  with  melancholy  interest,  the  simple  sod,  in  the 
midst  of  some  venerable  ruins,  which  covers  his  precious  dust.  And  what  a 
crown  was  it,  of  the  whole  day,  to  dine  among  his  chosen  friends,  —  to  hear 
their  simple,  heart-touching  expressions  of  regard,  and  the  numerous  narra- 
tions, all  untold  in  print,  which  serve  to  illustrate  his  character  and  genius! 
Sir  Adam,  with  whose  relation  to  Scott  Lockhart's  ungraceful  biography 
must  have  made  you  familiar,  is  nearly  seventy,  but  with  an  appearance  at 
once  hale  and  broken.  The  buoyancy  of  his  spirits  and  the  freshness  of  his 
countenance  give  him  an  aspect  which  is  belied  by  his  faltering  step.  He 
took  great  pleasure  in  a  story,  whether  told  by  himself  or  another,  and 
had  a  ready  and  exciting  laugh  always  at  command.  He  is  certainly  a 
capital  story-teller  himself,  and,  where  Sir  Walter  was  concerned,  was  su- 
premely interesting.  He  told  me  a  story  of  Scott  and  himself  seeing  the 
devil  once,  when  they  were  taking  some  oysters  and  port  wine;  and  assured 
me  that  Scott  never  saw  Melrose  by  moonlight  during  all  his  life :  and  Sir 
David  added  that  he  had  heard  Scott  say  that  twenty  times.  The  truth  was, 
Sir  Walter  would  not  go  there  by  night  for  fear  of  bogles.  Sir  Adam  vindi- 
cated his  friendship  with  Scott  by  his  love  of  whiskey ;  and  because  I  did 
not  show  a  strong  relish  for  his  potations  of  that  liquor,  he  said  that  my 
palate  was  not  yet  Scotified.  In  truth,  whiskey  is  the  Scotch  drink;  and 
Brewster,  —  a  most  temperate  man,  —  who  has  just  returned  from  England, 
complained  that,  during  a  visit  of  more  than  a  fortnight,  he  got  nothing  but 
wine.  As  Sir  Adam  left  us,  at  the  close  of  the  evening,  he  most  kindly  in- 
vited me  to  come  and  see  him,  if  I  should  again  visit  this  part  of  the  country. 

1  1781-1868 ;  an  experimental  philosopher,  biographer  of  Sir  Isaac  Newton,  and  Princi- 
pal <f  St.  Leonard's  College  at  St.  Andrew's. 

2  Sir  Adam  Ferguson  was  the  eldest  son  of  Dr.  Adam  Ferguson,  the  Professor  of  Moral 
Philosophy  in  the  University  of  Edinburgh.  At  his  father's  house  he  and  Sir  Walter  Scott 
became  friends  in  boyhood,  and  the  friendship  continued  till  Sir  Walter's  death.  Sir  Adam 
served  as  a  captain  in  Wellington's  Peninsular  campaigns.  He  was  a  prisoner  for  some 
time,  and  returned  home  when  Scott  was  building  Abbotsford.  His  friends  were  charmed 
with  his  wit  and  gallantry.  He  died  Jan.  1,  1855,  at  the  age  of  eighty-three.  He  is 
frequently  referred  to  in  Lockhart's  "  Life  of  Sir  Walter  Scott." 


358  MEMOIR  OF   CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1838. 

What  think  you  of  a  visit  to  Abbotsford?  I  have  seen  this  confused  pile,  — 
a  folly  made  sacred  by  the  memory  of  its  great  author.  To  one  fresh  from 
America,  who  had  not  seen  the  baronial  seats  of  England,  Abbotsford 
might  appear  large  and  interesting  in  an  architectural  point  of  view ;  but  to 
me  it  seemed  little  more  than  a  large  baby-house,  with  its  keep  and  towers, 
on  which  were  mounted  boys'  guns,  —  weak  imitations  of  the  proud  and 
impregnable  towers  which  actually  compose  the  old  castle.  As  I  saw  this 
building,  I  felt  the  fatal  weakness  of  Scott's  character  more  than  ever,  and 
sighed  to  think  that  he  could  not  have  had  the  simple  tastes  which  I 
found  in  Wordsworth.  Here  was  this  child  of  the  Sun,  who  might  have  left- 
a  path  of  unmixed  light  behind  him,  degrading  and  enslaving  himself,  in 
order  to  accumulate  what  Wordsworth  rightly  called  to  me  "a  few  dirty 
acres,"  and  to  become  a  country  squire,  —  setting  no  price  upon  his  im- 
measurable possessions  of  renown,  and  coveting  the  sterile  fields  of  his  neigh- 
bors. The  house  is  in  wretched  taste;  and  the  entrance-hall,  which  makes 
such  a  figure  in  all  descriptions,  is  a  small  apartment,  filled  with  arms  and 
relics  which  would  be  in  their  place  in  a  museum,  but  which  are  not  in 
keeping  with  a  house  of  the  size  of  Abbotsford. 

I  hear  much  said  of  the  injudiciousness  of  Lockhart,  in  his  biography.  He 
has  mortally  offended  many  persons.  I  have  not  time  or  space  to  repeat  the 
stories  I  have  heard ;  but  when  you  know  that  I  am  now  in  the  midst  of  all 
Sir  Walter's  neighbors,  you  will  understand  that  I  cannot  be  misinformed. 
The  fatal  affair  of  the  Ballantynes  1  has  plunged  his  friends  into  great  diffi- 
culty. Sir  David  Brewster  read  me  a  portion  of  a  letter  just  received  from 
Napier,  the  editor  of  the  "  Edinburgh  Review,"  in  which  the  latter  com- 
plains of  the  difficulty  of  the  subject,  and  says  that  an  honest  dissection  of 
Scott's  character  may  present  him  in  a  light  in  which  his  friends  would  be 
very  unwilling  to  view  him;  and  so  the  editor  proposed  to  be  silent.  It  is 
said  that  Lockhart  did  not  submit  his  pages  to  any  critical  friend  before 
publication,  and  that  his  publisher  (Cadell)  actually  struck  out  some  ex- 
pressions which  offended  even  his  uneducated  ear.  Lockhart,  as  you  are 
aware,  asked  for  Scott's  letters  from  all  his  correspondents.  Rogers  sent  a 
large  packet,  without  examining  them;  and  among  them,  it  is  said,  was 
one  or  more  informing  Rogers  that  Lockhart  was  about  to  become  the  son-in- 
law  of  Sir  Walter,  and  expressing  for  him  the  greatest  detestation.  And 
yet  I  am  assured  that  they  appeared  to  harmonize  very  well ;  and  I  believe 
that  Lockhart  was  always  kind  and  attentive  to  his  wife.  Lady  Brewster  — 
who  is  herself  the  daughter  of  Macpherson  Ossian  —  told  me  that  she  was 
the  intimate  friend  of  Mrs.  Lockhart,  whom  she  believed  to  be  entirely 
happy  with  her  husband. 

What  an  odd  thing  that  I,  fresh  from  Lord  Brougham,  should  have 
passed  into  another  circle  where  I  hear  that  about  him  which  he  does  not 
know  himself!  Brewster  read  me  a  part  of  Napier's  letter,  in  which  the 
editor  says:  "  Brougham  is  pestering  me  to  death.     I  am  afraid  we  shall  be 

1  Publishers,  for  whose  debts,  amounting  to  one  hundred  and  ten  thousand  pounds,  Scott 
as  a  partner  had  become  liable. 


^Et.  27.]  LORD   JEFFREY.  859 

obliged  to  split;  and  yet  I  hope  that  we  may  get  along."  This  refers  to 
Brougham's  articles  in  the  "  Edinburgh  Review."  He  is  trying  to  push  the 
Review  further  than  its  editor  wishes  to  go. 

My  last  to  you  left  me  at  Keswick.  Southey  was  away  on  a  tour  upon 
the  Continent.  He  has  a  young  and  lovely  daughter,  whom  I  saw  at  Words- 
worth's. From  Keswick  I  went  to  Penrith;  passed  a  day  with  Sir  George 
Back ; 1  came  up  through  Carlisle ;  noted  on  my  left  the  road  to  Gretna 
Green;  drove  by  the  side  of  the  Ettrick  and  the  Tweed,  and  under  the 
very  shadow  of  Branksome  Hall  to  Melrose,  where  I  now  am  under  the  hos- 
pitable roof  of  one  of  the  ablest,  best-informed,  and  most  amiable  men  I 
have  ever  known,  —  Sir  David  B.,  — with  the  thick-coming  fancies  filling  my 
mind,  and  my  whole  soul  absorbed  in  the  hallowed  associations  of  the  place. 
With  the  Eildon  Hills  staring  into  your  windows,  and  old  Melrose  full  in 
sight,  could  you  sleep?  I  wish  that  you  could  enjoy  this  scene;  but  I  hope 
that  my  sketch  may  give  you  a  small  idea  of  what  it  is. 

As  ever  yours,  C.  S. 


TO  GEORGE  S.  HILLARD. 

Riccarton  House,  Sept.  19,  1838. 

Again  I  send  you  greeting,  from  one  of  the  pleasantest  houses  in  which  I 
have  had  the  fortune  to  be  entertained.  I  am  now  the  guest  of  Sir  James 
Gibson  Craig,2  an  old  staunch  Whig,  the  friend  of  Fox,  who  received 
his  baronetcy  from  the  present  ministry.  His  place  is  about  seven  miles 
from  Edinburgh.  He  is  at  the  head  of  the  Whigs  of  Edinburgh,  and  is  the 
Keeper  of  the  Signet;  but  his  great  worth  and  political  influence  are  compara- 
tively local,  and  you  will  doubtless  feel  more  interested  in  one  whose  labors 
have  passed  the  bounds  of  countries  and  territories,  as  have  Lord  Jeffrey's.8 
I  was  at  Craigcrook  Castle  last  evening,  and  passed  a  good  portion  of  to-day 
with  his  Lordship  in  his  study.  Never  have  I  heard  any  one  express  himself 
with  such  grace,  beauty,  precision,  and  variety  of  word  as  did  Jeffrey,  when 
I  introduced  the  name  of  Jeremy  Taylor;  to  catch  and  send  you  his  language 
would  be  like  wreathing  into  this  scrawl  the  brilliant  colors  of  the  rainbow. 
I  am  tired  —  as  doubtless  you  are  —  of  my  descriptions  of  the  persons  and 
conversations  of  those  I  meet.     I  will  not  give  you  another  sketch,  and  yet  I 

1  1796-1857 ;  an  Arctic  voyager. 

2  Sir  James  died  in  1850,  at  the  age  of  eighty-four. 

8  Francis  Jeffrey,  1773-1850;  one  of  the  founders  of  the  "Edinburgh  Review,"  and  one 
of  it»  writers  for  nearly  fifty  years.  He  visited  New  York  in  1813,  where  he  married  his 
second  wife,  Charlotte  Wilkes,  the  grand  niece  of  the  celebrated  John  Wilkes.  A  note  of 
Lord  Jeffrey  is  preserved  in  which  he  invites  Sumner  to  dine  with  him  on  Sept.  18,  at 
24  Moray  Place,  and  regrets  that  people  are  out  of  town  and  that  the  courts  are  not  in  ses- 
sion. He  says,  "  You  have  come  to  Edinburgh  at  the  time  of  its  greatest  desertion,  and 
when  all  our  courts  are  in  vacation  and  all  our  lawyers  shooting  grouse.  I  am  afraid, 
therefore,  that  I  can  offer  you  only  a  family  party  and  a  hearty  welcome  on  Tuesday." 


860  MEMOIR  OF  CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1838. 

cannot  help  saying  that  Jeffrey  is  superlatively  eminent  as  a  converser,  — 
light,  aiiy,  poetical,  argumentative,  fantastical,  and  yet  full  of  the  illus- 
trations of  literature  and  history.  He  indulged  me  with  reminiscences 
of  his  old  Boston  acquaintances,  when  he  visited  us  in  1814,  —  G.  Cabot, 
whom  he  thought  a  shrewd,  powerful  man,  and  also  Mr.  Lowell  (John  un- 
doubtedly), both  of  whom,  he  said,  inclined  against  republics  to  such  a 
degree  that  he  thought  it  his  duty,  in  conversation,  to  say  something  in  be- 
half of  them;  Otis,  quite  a  superficial  man;  and  another  person,  with  a 
very  handsome  wife,  who  he  would  venture  to  say  was  quite  a  fool! 
I  supplied  the  name  at  once,  and  his  Lordship  recognized  it.  But  it  would 
be  impossible  to  follow  his  graceful  tongue.  Our  English  did,  indeed, 
fall  mended  from  his  lips.  Words  the  most  apt,  and  yet  out  of  ordinary 
reach,  came  at  his  bidding,  like  well-trained  servants.  He  spoke  of  an- 
ciently passing  along  the  streets  of  Edinburgh,  and  having  water  ejacu- 
lated upon  his  head.  But  I  shall  become  a  Boswell,  and  will  check  this 
theme.  What  a  different  man  is  Lockhart,  with  whom  I  dined  at  Lady 
Gifford's,1  the  dowager,  last  Sunday;  he  is  without  words,  conversation, 
heart,  or  a  disposition  to  please,  throwing  nothing  into  the  stock  of  social 
intercourse,  and  keeping  himself  aloof  from  all  the  hearty  currents  of 
life.  I  ought  to  tell  you  that  my  host  at  present  is  a  lineal  descendant 
of  Robert  Bruce  (of  which  he  boasts  much),  and  also  of  the  famous  Sir 
Thomas  Craig,  of  the  times  of  James  I. ,  who  wrote  that  venerable  folio  on 
Jus  Feudale,  in  which  I  have  whilom  moiled,  and  who  died  in  the  house 
where  I  now  am.  His  accomplished  family  have  all  read  Mr.  Prescott's 
book  with  the  greatest  interest,  and  have  made  earnest  inquiries  after  his 
health  and  the  present  condition  of  his  eyes.  They  first  read  the  book,  being 
interested  in  the  subject,  without  knowing  it  to  be  that  of  an  American. 

Lanfire  House,  Ayrshire,  Sept.  24. 
Jeffrey  against  all  the  world!  While  in  Edinburgh  I  saw  much  of  him, 
and  his  talent,  fertility  of  expression,  and  unlimited  information  (almost 
learning),  impressed  me  more  and  more.  He  spoke  on  every  subject,  and 
always  better  than  anybody  else.  Sydney  Smith  is  infinitely  pleasant,  and 
instructive  too ;  but  the  flavor  of  his  conversation  is  derived  from  its  humor. 
Jeffrey  is  not  without  humor,  but  this  is  not  a  leading  element.  He  pleases 
by  the  alternate  exercise  of  every  talent ;  at  one  moment  by  a  rapid  argu- 
ment, then  by  a  beautiful  illustration,  next  by  a  phrase  which  draws  a  whole 
thought  into  its  powerful  focus,  while  a  constant  grace  of  language  and 
amenity  of  manners,  with  proper  contributions  from  humor  and  wit,  heighten 
these  charms.  I  have  been  fortunate  in  knowing  as  I  have  known,  —  ay,  in 
knowing  at  their  hearths  —  the  three  great  men  of  the  "  Edinburgh  Review," 
—  Smith,  Brougham,  and  Jeffrey.     But  there  is  a  fourth, — John  A.  Mur- 

1  Lady  Harriet  Maria  Gifford,  daughter  of  Rev.  Edward  Drewe,  and  sister  of  the  wife  of 
Baron  Alderson.  She  died  in  1857,  surviving  many  years  her  husband,  Lord  Gifford,  who 
was  successively  Solicitor-General,  Attorney-General,  Lord  Chief-Justice  of  the  Common 
Pleas,  and  Master  of  the  Rolls. 


^t.27.]  SOCIETY  IN  EDINBURGH.  361 

ray,  the  present  Lord- Advocate  of  Scotland.1  It  was  Murray  who  gave  the 
motto,  at  which  Sydney  Smith  laughed, — Judex  damnatur  cum  nocens  absol- 
vitor,—  from  Publius  Syrus,  though  he  was  innocent  of  having  read  Syrus. 
I  forget  the  motto  which  Smith  offered.2  From  here  I  go  to  Strachur  Park, 
by  Inverary,  in  the  Highlands,  to  visit  the  Lord- Advocate ;  and  thus  see 
the  other  of  that  association  which  gave  such  a  new  character  to  periodical 
literature. 

I  passed  nine  days  in  Edinburgh,8  and  was  received  with  the  greatest 
kindness ;  though  Lord  Jeffrey  in  one  of  his  letters  to  me  said  that  I  was 
unfortunate  in  my  time  of  coming,  as  everybody  was  away  shooting  grouse, 
and  that  he  could  only  promise  me  a  hearty  welcome.  The  first  day  I  dined 
with  Sir  John  Robison  (Secretary  of  the  Royal  Society) ;  next  with  Lady  Gif- 
ford,  where  I  met  Lockhart;  then  with  Captain  Moore;  then  with  Lord  Jef- 
frey; then  with  Sir  James  Gibson  Craig;  then  with  Sir  William  Hamilton;4 
then  with  the  officers  of  the  Horse-Guards  stationed  at  Edinburgh ;  then  with 
Mr.  Guthrie  Wright,  to  meet  the  Attorney- General  and  my  most  attractive 
friend,  Lady  Stratheden;  and  last  with  Mr.  Fergusson,  the  author  of  the 
work  on  Divorce,  and  a  venerable  friend  of  Scott,  — to  say  nothing  of  break- 
fasts. Add  to  this,  that  I  was  obliged  to  decline  as  many  more  invitations, 
and  those  from  the  Solicitor-General  of  Scotland,  two  from  Lord  Jeffrey,  and 
also  from  the  Attorney- General  and  Lady  Stratheden.  The  last  lady  I  ad- 
mire very  much,  —  the  daughter  of  a  peer,  and  moreover  a  peeress  by  creation 
in  her  own  right;  beautiful,  accomplished,  amiable,  bland.  I  do  not  remem- 
ber that  I  have  met  another  lady  of  her  age,  the  mother  of  a  considerable 
family,  equally  attractive.  Sir  William  Hamilton  is  the  brother  of  Cyril 
Thomas  Hamilton ;  he  is  quite  learned,  but  brusque  and  gauche  in  his  man- 
ners. Wilson  I  did  not  see.  He  was  invited  once  or  twice  to  meet  me 
where  I  dined  or  breakfasted;  but  he  took  no  notice  of  the  invitations,  nor 
of  a  letter  of  introduction  to  him  from  Sir  David  Brewster.  He  was  spoken 
of  as  very  odd,  almost  mad.  Some  of  my  friends  wished  me  to  call  upon 
him ;  but  I  resolutely  declined,  having  determined  never  to  put  myself  for- 
ward to  make  an  acquaintance  in  Britain.  I  find  that  Willis  is  much  laughed 
at  for  his  sketches ;  and  Wilson  says  that  he  never  said  what  is  attributed  to 

1  John  Archibald  Murray  was  in  Parliamenfirom  1832  to  1835 ;  succeeded  Francis  Jef- 
frey, in  1834,  as  Lord-Advocate,  and,  losing  the  office  in  a  few  months,  resumed  it  in  1835, 
and  was  raised  to  the  bench  in  1839  as  a  Lord  of  Session.  He  died  March  7,  1859,  in  his 
eighty-first  year,  at  his  residence  on  Great  Stuart  Street,  Edinburgh.  Save  Brougham,  he 
was  the  last  survivor  of  that  company  of  men  who  distinguished  the  society  of  Edinburgh 
during  the  first  third  of  the  present  century,  —Jeffrey,  Brougham,Playfair,  Sydney  Smith, 
Francis  Horner,  Thomas  Brown,  and  Henry  Cockburn.  A  note  of  Sydney  Smith,  introducing 
Sumner  to  the  Lord-Advocate,  was  forwarded  to  the  latter,  and  was  at  once  recognized  by  wel- 
coming Sumner  to  Strachur  Park,  near  Inverary,  with  directions  to  come  by  Loch  Lomond, 
Tarbet,  and  Cairnclan.  In  London,  he  afterwards  invited  Sumner  to  take  tea  at  1  Parlia- 
ment Place,  with  Sydney  Smith  and  Harriet  Martineau  as  expected  guests. 

2  Sydney  Smith  offered,  Tenui  musam  meditamur  arena,  —  "  We  cultivate  literature  on  a 
little  oatmeal,"  —  which  was  rejected  as  coming  too  near  the  truth.  Lady  Holland's  "Me- 
moir of  the  Rev.  Sydney  Smith,"  Chap.  II. 

8  He  lodged  at  Tait's  Hotel,  Princes  Street 
*  The  metaphysician,  1788-1856. 


362  MEMOIR  OF  CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1838. 

him  about  Lockhart,  and  also  the  review  of  Hamilton.  Some  of  my  friends 
were  at  Gordon  Castle  when  Willis  was  there,  and  describe  his  visit  in 
amusing  colors.  It  was  supposed  that  he  would  write  a  book;  and  all  the 
ladies  agreed  to  take  turns  in  riding  with  him,  &c. ,  so  all  might  be  equally 
booked.  Sir  William  Hamilton  wished  to  be  particularly  remembered  to 
Governor  Everett.     Will  you  be  kind  enough  to  do  this? 

I  am  now  visiting  my  friend  Brown.  His  house  stands  about  a  mile  from 
the  road.  You  approach  it  by  either  of  two  lodges,  which  are  quite  pretty 
and  are  a  mile  apart,  and  go  by  a  shaded  path  a  mile  either  way  to  the  house. 
There  are  woods  in  abundance  in  every  direction.  I  am  now  writing  in  the 
library,  —  a  pleasant  room  with  a  beautiful  prospect,  — which  is  covered  with 
books  from  the  floor  to  the  ceiling.  Mrs.  Brown,  the  mother  of  my  friend, 
looks  very  much  like  her  brother,  Lord  Jeffrey.  I  find  myself  so  much  en- 
gaged by  the  hospitalities  of  my  friends  that  I  shall  not  get  back  to  town  till 
Nov.  1,  in  order  to  sit  out  the  next  Michaelmas  Term. 
As  ever,  affectionately  yours, 

Chas.  Sumner. 


TO  JUDGE  STORY. 

Lanfire  House,  Sept.  28,  1838. 

My  dear  Judge, — Your  double-sheeter  of  Aug.  11  saluted  me  at  Lord 
Brougham's  breakfast-table,  at  Brougham  Hall,  in  the  mountains  of  West- 
moreland. I  read  it  with  deep  interest  at  the  time,  and  have  carried  it  with 
me,  reading  it  anew  at  every  resting-place.  I  have  just  read  it  over,  and  again 
feel  thankful  that  you  devoted  so  much  time  to  me.  In  all  my  present  happi- 
ness a  letter  from  a  friend  comes  to  gild  my  joy.  Let  me  first  answer  the 
matters  suggested  by  your  letter.  I  will  examine  Lord  Hale's  manuscript, 
and  will  have  a  copy  taken  only  in  the  event  that  I  find  it  contains  views 
and  arguments  which  I  think  important  in  illustration  of  the  Admiralty 
jurisdiction.  .  .   . 

Baron  Alderson  x  is  the  first  Equity  judge  in  the  Court  of  Exchequer,  and 
unquestionably  a  very  great  judge.2  I  do  not  think  you  do  him  justice.  I 
have  sat  by  his  side  for  three  days  on  the  bench,  and  have  constantly  ad- 
mired the  clearness,  decision,  and  learning  which  he  displayed.  In  one  case 
of  murder,  where  all  the  evidence  was  circumstantial,  I  sat  with  him  from 
nine  o'clock  in  the  morning  till  six  at  night.  His  charge  to  the  jury  was  a 
luxury.  I  wish  you  could  have  heard  it.  It  was  delightful  to  hear  an  impor- 
tant case,  so  ably  mastered  by  one  who  understood  his  duty  and  the  law,  and 
did  not  shrink  from  laying  before  the  jury  his  opinions.     Alderson's  voice 

1  Edward  Hall  Alderson,  1787-1857 ;  a  reporter  with  Barnewall,  1817-1822 ;  a  judge  of 
the  Common  Pleas,  1830-34 ;  and  of  the  Exchequer,  1834-57.  Sumner  dined  with  him  at 
his  house  in  Park  Crescent,  and  by  his  invitation  with  the  bar  of  the  Northern  Circuit.  In 
a  note,  he  proposed  to  call  for  Sumner  and  show  him  "our  business  in  Chambers,  of  which 
few  people  know  any  thing,  either  in  England  or  America." 

2  Sumner  wrote  to  Hillard,  Aug.  18,  1838 :  "I  do  not  know  but  what  I  should  place  him 
[Alderson]  before  Parke.  .  .  .  He  is  a  great  Tory." 


^t  27.]        AN  AFTERNOON  WITH  TALFOURD.  363 

and  manner  remind  me  of  Webster  more  than  those  of  anybody  I  have  seen 
here;  his  features  are  large,  but  his  hair,  eyes,  and  complexion  are  light. 

You  ask  why  does  not  some  one  interfere  and  put  Lord  Brougham  right. 
If  you  had  ever  seen  him,  you  would  not  ask  that.  As  well  might  you  try 
to  turn  aside  Boreas  in  his  swift  career  as  Brougham  when  he  once  has  con- 
ceived a  line  of  action.  I  doubt  if  he  counsels  with  anybody.  His  intimates 
are  persons  far  below  him  in  station,  —  Charles  Phillips,  Matthew  Davenport 
Hill,1  and  Dr.  Shepherd,2  a  Unitarian  clergyman  at  Liverpool.  .  .  . 

I  am  with  my  friend  Brown  at  Lanfire  House.  One  may  ride  in  his 
grounds  twelve,  perhaps  twenty,  miles.  I  sit  and  read  in  the  library  and 
ramble  in  the  shady  paths  of  the  woods,  which  for  more  than  a  mile  on 
either  side  surround  his  house.  He  wishes  to  be  kindly  remembered  to  you. 
Enclosed  is  an  autograph  of  Sir  Walter  Scott,  given  me  by  Sir  John  Rob- 
ison,  the  Secretary  of  the  Royal  Society  at  Edinburgh,  of  which  Scott  was 
President. 

I  am  glad  Mrs.  Story  is  so  well,  and  hope  I  shall  not  be  forgotten  in  youi 
house ;  and  am, 

As  ever,  most  affectionately  yours, 

Charles  Sumner. 


TO  GEORGE  S.  HILLARD. 

Dumbarton,  Oct.  1,  1838. 

I  now  write  you,  my  dear  Hillard,  from  the  foot  of  the  far-famed  Dum- 
barton Rock,  which  has  withstood  sieges  without  number  and  witnessed  so 
many  deeds  of  chivalry.  It  is  a  huge  hunk  of  stone,  precisely  like  the  pict- 
ure above,8  with  sides  nearly  perpendicular.  You  may  well  imagine  that 
under  the  ancient  system  of  warfare  it  was  nearly  impregnable.  In  our  days, 
when  the  force  of  artillery  is  so  well  understood,  I  doubt  much  if  it  "  would 
laugh  a  siege  to  scorn."  I  am  now  at  the  comfortable  inn  in  the  place,  hav- 
ing declined  the  hospitable  shelter  of  Talfourd's  roof.  He  has  taken  for  the 
summer  the  beautiful  Glenarbuck  Cottage,  about  four  miles  from  here,  and 
I  have  just  returned  from  passing  the  afternoon  in  rambling  in  his  wild 
grounds  and  in  dining  with  him,  following  the  windings  of  the  Clyde, 
with  the  romantic  castle  in  sight.  Talfourd  is  moaning  that  he  must  so  soon 
desert  these  sweet  places  and  hurry  back  to  town  and  business. 

I  write  you  now  particularly,  in  order  to  answer  a  question,  which  hangs 
upon  my  mind,  in  one  of  your  former  letters.    You  ask  how  will  it  do  to  pub- 

1  Of  Birmingham;  an  active  member  of  the  "Society  for  the  Diffusion  oi  Useful 
Knowledge,"  and  a  promoter  of  juvenile  reformatories. 

2  Rev.  William  Shepherd,  of  Gateacre,  Liverpool ;  author  of  the  "  Life  of  Poggio  Braccio- 
lini,"  a  cop}r  of  which  was  given  by  Edward  Rushton  to  Sumner.  Mr.  Shepherd  was  a  school- 
master of  reputation,  and  belonged  to  the  same  literary  set  with  Roscoe.  Sumner  wrote  on 
a  copy  (the  author's  gift)  of  Mr.  Shepherd's  "History  of  the  American  Revolution"  the 
memorandum,  "  The  author,  whom  I  met  at  Brougham  Hall,  Aug.  1838,  told  me  that  this 
little  history  was  read  in  manuscript  and  approved  by  Lord  John  Russell.    C  S." 

8  Referring  to  a  vignette  at  the  top  of  the  sheet- 


364  MEMOIR  OF  CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1838. 

lish  a  collection  of  Macaulay's  writings?  l  Very  well.  I  thought  otherwise  at 
first.  There  is  a  sameness  in  his  style, — balance  and  counterbalance,  gun 
answering  gun,  parterre  casting  the  shadow  of  parterre,  — so  that  I  at  first 
feared  that  a  volume  of  his  composition  would  not  have  the  same  relish  that 
we  find  in  an  article.  But  I  am  now  convinced  that  there  is  withal  so  much 
thought  and  generalization,  and  historical  argument  and  illustration,  in  all 
that  he  has  written,  that  it  must  challenge  and  fix  the  attention.  Think  of 
your  idea  seriously.  When  I  get  back  to  town  I  will  sound  Macaulay  upon  it, 
if  I  am  so  fortunate  as  to  find  him  there.  He  has  promised  me  a  book ;  and  I 
doubt  not  I  shall  meet  him.  I  have  heard  much  that  is  good  about  him ;  and 
he  is  one  of  the  few  men  who  have  risen  as  I  have  entered  the  sphere  in  which 
they  move.  Who  could  be  a  better  judge  of  one  like  Macaulay  than  Lord 
Jeffrey?  —  Jeffrey,  a  critic  of  thought  and  composition  for  years;  a  speaker, 
and  a  student  of  the  proprieties  of  Parliament.  He  told  me  that  no  man 
spoke  like  Macaulay  in  the  Commons ;  and  that  the  great  proof  of  this  was  to 
be  found  in  the  remarkable  fact  that,  during  the  discussions  on  the  Reform 
Bill,  the  views  of  Macaulay,  advanced  perhaps  at  the  fifth  or  sixth  day's 
debate,  formed  the  topic  of  discussion  for  the  remainder  of  the  time  that  the 
subject  was  under  consideration.  The  Tories  were  occupied,  each  and  all  of 
them,  in  the  endeavor  to  answer  some  view  that  he  had  launched.  Macaulay 
went  to  India  with  a  view  to  gain  an  independence  that  should  enable  him  to 
be,  not  simply  above  party  subservience,  but  above  the  imputation  of  it.  He 
wished  to  be  able  to  support  his  sisters.  He  has  happily  accomplished  his 
objects,  and  is  now  undoubtedly  worth  some  thirty  thousand  pounds.  He 
declines  to  return  to  Parliament,  and  avows  a  determination  to  surrender 
himself  to  literary  pursuits.  He  has  already  commenced  a  history  of  Eng- 
land from  the  Revolution  of  1688  to  the  passage  of  the  Reform  Bill;2  and 
this,  I  understand,  he  is  pledged  to  complete.  Lord  Jeffrey  thought  he 
would  be  persuaded  to  return  to  Parliament.  If  you  should  edit  a  collection 
of  his  writings,  do  not  forget  his  speeches,  which  form  some  of  his  most 
striking  productions.     His  article  on  Bacon  is  a  masterpiece.8 

I  observed  to  Lord  Jeffrey  that  I  thought  Carlyle  had  changed  his  style 
very  much  since  he  wrote  the  article  on  Burns.  "  Not  at  all,"  said  he;  "I 
will  tell  you  why  that  is  different  from  his  other  articles:  i"  altered  it.''  Car- 
lyle was  quite  vexed  at  this  interference.  Could  you  not  publish  one  or  two 
volumes  of  the  articles  of  Sydney  Smith?  I  have  a  list  of  them  all,  given 
me  by  himself;  and  he  said  when  he  gave  it  to  me,  "  If  you  wish  to  read 
liberal  sentiments  expressed  always  with  some  humor,  look  at  these."  They 
would  make  a  volume  of  infinite  fun. 

1  The  American  edition  of  Macaulay's  essays  first  led  him  to  consider  the  expediency  of 
an  English  edition.  See  his  letter  to  Napier,  Aug.  25,  1842,  —  Trevelyan's  "Life  of  Lor.d 
Macaulay,"  Vol.  II.  p.  100. 

2  Macaulay,  in  his  letter  to  Napier  of  July  20,  1838,  first  mentions  his  project  of  a  his- 
tory. From  his  journal  it  appears  that  he  wrote  a  portion  of  the  introduction  on  March  9, 
1839.  The  first  two  volumes  were  published  late  in  1848.  Trevelyan's  "  Life  of  Lord 
Macaulay,"  Vol.  II.  pp.  19,  215. 

8  Written  in  India,  and  published  in  the  "Edinburgh  "Review,"  July,  1837. 


jEt.  27.]  THE  GUEST  OF  JOHN  A.  MURRAY.  365 

I  have  passed  five  days  with  Brown  in  rambling  round  his  grounds  and  in 
reading  in  his  library.  He  wished  to  be  remembered  kindly  to  you.  The 
smack  of  Edinburgh  society  still  remains  on  my  lips.  There  I  saw,  in  a  short 
time  and  in  a  most  unfavorable  season,  many  men  of  interest, — old  com- 
panions of  Scott,  —  and  also  those  whose  characters  speak  sufficiently  for 
themselves.  Tait  asked  me  to  meet  De  Quincey,  the  opium-eater ;  but  I  was 
engaged  to  ride  with  Lord  Jeffrey,  and  could  not  go. 

Strachur  Park,  Oct.  3,  1838. 
I  close  this  letter  at  the  seat  of  the  Lord- Advocate  of  Scotland,  in  Argyle- 
shire,  in  the  very  midst  of  the  Highlands. 

As  ever,  yours  affectionately,  C.  S. 

P.  S.  Lord  Jeffrey  and  Sydney  Smith  both  spoke  of  Macaulay  as  a  talker 
who  said  too  much,  —  so  much  that  Jeffrey  thought  he  was  not  a  popular  diner 
out;  and  Sydney  Smith  said,  when  I  told  him  that  I  had  met  Macaulay, 
"  Well,  you  had  talk  enough  for  once  in  your  life."  Now  I  distinctly  say 
that  I  saw  nothing  of  this.     He  kept  himself  within  bounds. 

Sir  David  Brewster  told  me  that  he  received  several  letters  from  Lord 
Brougham,  written  in  court  when  Chancellor,  on  light,  one  of  them  fourteen 
pages  long. 


TO  JUDGE  STORY. 

Strachur  Park,  Oct.  4, 1838. 
My  dear  Judge,  —  1  am  the  guest  of  the  Lord- Advocate,1  —  a  kind, 
agreeable  gentleman,  of  about  sixty-six.  We  are  in  the  recesses  of  the 
Highlands,  with  mountain  peaks  about  us  in  every  direction ;  glassy  lakes, 
in  which  are  mirrored  the  surrounding  objects;  and  far,  far  away  from  "  the 
madding  crowd's  ignoble  strife."  Here  is  the  great  Temple  of  Nature; 
and  none  but  her  devout  worshippers  enter  in.  On  the  opposite  shore  of  the 
loch  is  the  castle  of  Inverary,  —  the  celebrated  seat  of  the  Duke  of  Argyll, 
and  the  scene  of  some  of  the  adventures  of  Captain  Dalgetty  in  the  "  Legend 
of  Montrose."  After  the  ladies  left  the  table  at  dinner,  his  Lordship  in- 
quired of  me  as  to  the  extent  of  Lynch  law  in  America.  He  said  that  it  was 
the  great  stain  of  our  country,  and  that  it  tended  to  create  a  distrust  in  the 
security  of  life,  freedom,  and  property;2  for  if  you  once  recognize  a  right  in 
any  persons  to  take  the  law  into  their  own  hands,  or  if,  when  they  have  taken 
it  into  their  own  hands,  you  do  not  perseveringly  pursue  them,  you  take  away 
all  security.  This  consideration  is,  by  no  means,  new  to  you  or  to  me.  It  is 
the  palpable  view,  which  is  as  plain  as  the  road  to  mill ;  and  yet  why  is  it  not 
enforced?    "Why  will  respectable  men  at  home  stand  by  and  smile  while  the 

1  John  A.  Murray. 

2  Instances  of  summary  popular  justice  were  then  somewhat  frequent ;  they  were  the 
incidents  of  slaveholding  or  frontier  communities,  imperfectly  civilized,  in  which  citizens 
failed  to  obtain  protection  through  the  ordinary  methods  of  justice. 


366  MEMOIR   OF  CHARLES   SUMNER.  11838. 

law  is  prostrated?  I  do  assure  you,  my  dear  Judge,  this  matter  assumes  a 
gigantic  importance  at  the  distance  from  which  I  survey  it.  Solon  well  said, 
that  was  the  best  government  where  an  injury  to  a  single  citizen  was  resented 
as  an  injury  to  the  whole  State.  Tried  by  this  standard,  how  miserably  poor 
is  our  government!  The  Lord- Advocate  and  some  of  his  guests  had  read 
Judge  Lawless's  charge  to  the  grand  jury  of  Missouri,  on  the  occasion 
of  some  infamous  murder;  and  all  expressed,  justly  I  think,  the  utmost  ab- 
horrence of  its  doctrines.  And  the  Lord- Advocate  argued,  with  great  power, 
that  we  ought  to  have  some  way  of  at  once  turning  a  judge  out  of  office,  who 
should  lay  down  such  law ;  and,  further,  that  there  should  be  a  provision  in 
our  national  Constitution  securing  to  Congress  some  supervision  of  State 
judges  and  State  laws;  "otherwise,"  said  his  Lordship,  "a  citizen  of 
Massachusetts,  who  happened  to  be  in  Missouri,  might  be  tried  and  exe- 
cuted for  matters  which,  in  his  own  State,  were  no  offence;  or  he  might  lose 
his  life,  and  no  punishment  ensue  to  his  murderers."  You  will  at  once  per- 
ceive that  these  views,  ingenious  as  they  are,  originated  in  misconceptions  with 
regard  to  the  nature  of  our  Union,  a  matter  which  no  foreigner  clearly  un- 
derstands; but  I  think  you  will  be  struck,  as  I  was,  with  their  theoretic 
soundness,  and  perhaps  regret  that  they  cannot  in  some  way  be  adopted. 
His  Lordship  further  said  that  Congress  (and  here,  of  course,  he  went  on 
mistaken  notions  of  its  powers)  should  appoint  a  committee  at  the  next  ses- 
sion to  inquire  into  the  number  of  cases  of  Lynch  law,  and  all  the  circum- 
stances attending  their  occurrence.  Cannot  something  be  done?  All  the 
good  and  sound  part  of  the  community  should  address  themselves  to  this. 
I  have  always  (with  one  exception)  been  treated  with  great  forbearance  and 
delicacy,  when  this  subject  has  been  brought  on.  There  was  a  gentleman 
at  Riccarton  House,  with  Sir  James  Gibson  Craig,  who  pressed  me  so  hard 
as  to  vex  me,  and  nearly  put  me  out  of  temper.  Sir  James  himself  was 
perfectly  serene  and  just. 

Stirling,  Oct.  7,  1838. 

I  continue  this  letter  beneath  the  towers  of  Stirling,  —  so  famous  in  Scotch 
history,  and  which  have  witnessed  the  ebbs  and  flows  of  so  many  bloody  tides. 
The  castle  must  have  been  impregnable  before  the  art  of  war,  and  particu- 
larly the  science  of  artillery,  had  introduced  such  great  changes.  Since  I 
commenced  this  letter,  I  have  passed  through  Loch  Lomond  and  Loch 
Katrine,  the  pictures  of  which  will  give  an  added  value  to  this  sheet.  I 
have  been  rowed  by  moonlight  on  this  last  beautiful  lake,  —  a  distance  of 
ten  miles,  —  while  Ben  Lomond  towered  in  the  distance;  and,  by  the  light 
of  day,  have  visited  the  island  of  the  "Lady  of  the  Lake;"  have  seen 
the  spot  where  Fitz  James  wound  his  horn,  after  his  "  gallant  grey"  had 
sunk  exhausted  to  the  ground;  have  followed  his  course  beyond  "  Clan- Al- 
pine's outmost  guard,  as  far  as  Coilantogle's  ford."  And  now  I  am  on 
the  rock  of  Stirling,  —  one  of  those  natural  fastnesses  which,  in  early  days, 
were  so  much  regarded  by  all  soldiers.  Among  the  adventures  which  I 
have  had  in  the  Highlands,  amidst  these  weird  hills  and  glassy  lakes,  was 


JEt.  27. 1  AUTHORS  IN  EDINBUEGH.  367 

a  Highland  wedding.  Let  me  tell  you  of  this  on  my  return.  It  was  one  of 
the  richest  scenes  I  ever  enjoyed;  and  I  was  a  kind  of  Guy  Mannering  in  the 
whole  affair. 

I  have  long  wished  to  write  you  of  Edinburgh  and  its  society,  and  now 
find  only  the  fraction  of  a  letter  for  what  several  units  would  hardly  suffice. 
I  doubt  not  that  you  have  already  heard  something  of  what  I  saw  there 
from  Hillard.  It  was  a  season  when  everybody  was  out  of  town,  so  that  I 
saw  only  comparatively  a  few  persons;  but  they  were  the  elite.  Among 
others,  I  saw  Professor  Bell,  the  venerable  author  of  the  work  on  Commercial 
Law.1  He  came  out  to  Lord  Jeffrey's  at  dinner,  though,  poor  man,  he  eat 
nothing,  as  his  physicians  had  cut  him  off  from  dinner:  he  afterwards  came 
to  Sir  William  Hamilton's,  where  he  eat  nothing.  I  breakfasted  with  him ; 
and  he  was  so  good  as  to  go  with  me  over  the  courts,  and  explain  to  me  their 
different  jurisdictions.  I  assure  you  a  worthier  or  more  warm-hearted  old  gen- 
tleman does  not  exist  in  either  hemisphere.  He  is  advanced  in  life,  — say 
seventy,  —  and,  I  fear,  quite  weak,  even  for  his  years.  He  told  me  that  he 
was  the  first  person  in  Scotland  who  imported  a  copy  of  Pothier.  His  works, 
in  a  pecuniary  sense,  I  understand,  have  been  losing  affairs.  He  was  well 
acquainted  with  Kent's  "  Commentaries,"  and  inquired  after  the  Chancellor 
as  if  for  an  old  friend.  I  shall  not  fail  to  write  the  Chancellor  the  agree- 
able inquiries  which  have  been  made  with  regard  to  him  by  Mr.  Bell, 
and  also  by  Pardessus  at  Paris.  You  are  perhaps  aware  that  Clark,  the 
bookseller,  has  published  a  neat  volume,  containing  the  commercial  parts  of 
Kent's  "  Commentaries; "  but,  though  he  received  highly  commendatory  let- 
ters from  Lord  Denman  and  Lord  Chief-Justice  Tindal,  the  book  has  not 
succeeded.  On  the  other  hand,  your  "  Conflict  of  Laws  "  has  entirely  suc- 
ceeded. Of  that  he  published  an  edition  of  one  thousand  copies.  Clark  is 
a  gentlemanly,  intelligent,  pushing  man.  I  dined  one  day  in  Edinburgh 
with  Fergusson,2  the  author  of  the  "  Consistory  Reports,"  who  is  a 
bland,  noble  gentleman,  of  seventy.  He  and  Bell  are  both  clerks  of  Ses- 
sion, as  Scott  was;  so  that  they  are  entirely  comfortable.  Robertson,  who 
has  written  a  work  on  "Personal  Succession,"8  had  it  all  printed  and 
just  ready  to  be  published,  when  he  met  your  work:  being  a  man  of  for- 
tune, he  determined  not  to  go  before  the  world  without  the  lights  derived 
from  you;  and  accordingly  cancelled  all  his  sheets,  and  rewrote  them,  em- 
bodying the  new  considerations  suggested  by  the  "  Conflict  of  Laws." 
They  tell  strange  stories  of  Fergusson's  absence  of  mind,  some  of  which 
I  hope  to  remember  to  tell  you  when  I  get  home. 

As  ever,  affectionately  yours, 

Chas.  Sumner. 

1  George  Joseph  Bell,  1770-1843. 

2  James  Fergusson,  at  one  time  one  of  the  Judges  of  the  Consistory  Court  of  Edinburgh, 
author  of  "  Recent  Decisions  by  the  Consistorial  Court  of  Scotland  in  Actions  of  Divorce," 
and  of  "A  Treatise  on  the  Present  State  of  the  Consistorial  Law  in  Scotland,  with  Reports 
of  Decided  Cases." 

«  David  Robertson ;  his  work  was  published  at  Edinburgh  in  1836,  and  dedicated  to  Lord 
Brougham. 


368  MEMOIR  OF  CHARLES  SUMNER.  [1838 

TO  HIS  SISTER  MARY. 

Dublin,i  Oct.  14,  1838. 

My  dear  Mary,  —  I  write  now  in  the  coffee-room  of  a  hotel  in  the 
capital  of  Ireland.  .  .  .  Learn  to  understand  your  own  language,  my  dear 
sister;  make  it  a  study,  and  fix  upon  it  your  serious  thought.  Most  of 
the  world  speak  their  mother  tongue  unconsciously;  and,  like  Monsieur  Jour- 
dain  in  Moliere's  delicious  comedy,  would  be  astonished  if  they  should  be 
told  that  during  all  their  lives  they  had  been  talking  prose  !  Read  the  Bour- 
geois Gentilhomme,  if  you  have  not  read  it  before  now;  it  is  easy  French,  and 
is  full  of  pleasant  turns. 

This  sheet  is  enriched  by  a  picture  of  Abbotsford  and  of  Melrose  Abbey. 
I  hope  that  you  know  all  about  these  already.  The  life  of  Scott  must  have 
made  you  acquainted  with  Abbotsford;  and  Melrose  Abbey  is  the  scene  of 
his  earliest  —  I  am  inclined  to  think  his  best  —  poem. 

When  you  have  a  moment's  leisure,  catch  up  the  "  Lay  of  the  Last  Min- 
strel;" read  its  sounding  lines,  which  enter  the  ear  like  the  reverberating 
hoofs  of  the  fast-going  horse.  There  is  much  that  is  stirring  in  Scott.  His 
poetry  is  martial  music :  and  I  always  feel  when  reading  it  (though  for  the 
thousandth  time)  as  if  stirred  by  a  trumpet. 

I  have  visited  Abbotsford,  and  seen  those  towers  which  you  may  see  in 
the  picture.  It  was  with  deep  melancholy  that  I  contemplated  this  structure, 
to  rear  which  the  distinguished  author  had  enslaved  his  mind  and  life. 
Every  stone,  and  all  those  towers  and  fantastic  monuments,  proclaimed  his 
vanity.  Foolish  man !  why  could  he  not  have  lived  in  contentment  in  an 
ordinary  house,  built  after  common  designs,  without  aping  those  great 
baronial  models,  to  equal  which  all  his  fortune  was  of  course  incompetent? 
Abbotsford  looks  well  enough  in  a  picture ;  perhaps  it  would  seem  impos- 
ing to  one  who  had  not  seen  the  larger  castles  of  England.  I  approached 
it,  after  having  visited  Lambton  Castle,  Auckland  Castle  (or  palace), 
Raby  Castle,  Brancepeth  Castle,  Wytton  Castle,  Ravensworth,  &c,  in  the 
North  of  England,  in  four  of  which  I  have  been  as  a  guest.  And,  after  these 
proud  piles,  I  cannot  express  to  you  the  littleness  of  every  thing  about  Ab- 
botsford. Melrose  is  a  beautiful  ruin.  I  passed  two  days  with  Sir  David 
Brewster  at  his  seat,  directly  opposite  the  Abbey,  with  the  silver  Tweed  — 
that  river  so  illustrious  in  Scottish  history  —  flowing  between ;  and  from  my 
chamber  window,  while  the  moon  was  riding  aloft,  I  looked  out  upon  this 
venerable  ruin,  illustrated  by  poetry  and  association,  and  upon  the  towering 
Eildon  Hills,  which,  with  their  majestic  bodies,  stood  like  two  grand  senti- 
nels over  the  scene. 

God  grant  that  you  and  all  the  family  may  be  well,  with  happiness  as  a 
sunbeam  in  your  paths !  Study,  my  dear  girl ;  employ  your  time ;  catch  the 
priceless  moments,  and  believe  that  they  are  better  than  gold  and  silver. 

As  ever,  affectionately  yours,  Chas. 

*  Sumner  visited  Glasgow,  and  probably  took  a  steamer  from  Liverpool  for  Dublin;  but 
no  letter  covering  this  week  of  his  tour,  Oct.  7-14,  has  been  preserved. 


jEt.27.]  VISIT  AT  WORTLEY  HALL.  369 

TO  JUDGE  STORY. 

Wentworth  House,1  Oct.  24,  1838. 

My  dear  Judge,  —  From  Wortley  Hall  I  have  passed  to  this  magnificent 
palace;  and,  as  my  Lord  Fitzwilliam  2  said  to  me  to-night,  I  have  dined  under 
the  shadow  of  Lord  Bute,  and  now  of  the  Marquis  of  Rockingham.  I  ar- 
rived after  dark,  and  therefore  have  not  seen  the  immense  proportions  of  this 
edifice.  They  were  going  in  to  dinner  as  I  drove  up.  I  was  at  once  shown 
to  my  room  by  the  groom  of  the  chambers;  dressed,  and  got  into  the  dining- 
room  just  after  the  disappearance  of  fish,  and  found  a  place  vacant  for  me  by 
the  side  of  the  Lady  Charlotte,  who  is  his  Lordship's  eldest  daughter,  and  does 
the  honors  of  the  house.     There  were  twenty-five  or  more  at  table. 

I  have  passed  three  agreeable  nights  at  Wortley.  Before  I  came  here, 
Lord  Morpeth  told  me  that  I  should  find  Wentworth  magnificent  and  Wort- 
ley comfortable.  And  you  may  conceive  an  English  peer's  idea  of  comfort 
when  I  teli  you  that  Wortley  Hall  is  a  spacious  edifice,  built  by  the  husband 
of  Lady  Mary  Wortley  Montagu.3  I  do  not  know  an  edifice  like  it  in  the 
United  States,  with  extensive  domains.  Wharncliffe  Park,  which  belongs 
to  it,  contains  of  itself  eighteen  hundred  acres,  in  which  the  deer  are  rang- 
ing. Every  thing  about  it  is  elegant.  But  you  will  wish  to  hear  of  the  noble 
family.  Lord  Wharncliffe  is  now  about  sixty-five.4  He  was  troubled  during 
my  stay  with  severe  rheumatism.  He  is  a  man  of  great  simplicity  of  man- 
ners and  of  strong  common  sense,  with  a  great  practical  turn.  Sir  Robert 
Inglis  told  me  that  I  must  not  fail  to  see  Lord  Wharncliffe  presiding  at  the 

1  Murray's  "Handbook  for  Yorkshire,"  pp.  448,  449,  has  a  description  of  Wentworth 
Castle. 

2  Charles  William  Wentworth,  fifth  Earl  Fitzwilliam,  1786-1857.  He  was  a  liberal  peer 
and  a  supporter  of  the  Reform  Bill.  His  father  was  the  friend  of  Fox  until  the  controversy 
concerning  the  French  Revolution  divided  them,  and  the  nephew  of  the  Marquis  of  Rock- 
ingham, Burke's  friend.  Earl  Fitzwilliam  survived  his  eldest  son,  William  Charles,  Vis- 
count Milton,  who  died  in  Nov.,  1835.  The  Earl  was,  on  his  death,  succeeded  in  the  peerage 
by  his  second  son,  the  present  earl,  William  Thomas  Spencer,  who  was  born  in  1815,  and 
who  married,  in  September,  1838,  Lady  Frances  Douglas,  daughter  of  the  Earl  of  Morton. 
One  of  the  seats  of  Earl  Fitzwilliam  was  Wentworth  House,  Yorkshire,  and  another,  Milton 
Park,  near  Peterborough.  Sumner  bore  a  letter  of  introduction  to  him  from  their  common 
friend,  Charles  S.  Daveis,  of  Portland. 

8  Murray's  "Handbook  for  Yorkshire,"  p.  468. 

4  James  Archibald  Stuart  Wortley  Mackenzie,  1776-1845;  descended  from  the  third 
Earl  Bute,  and  created  a  peer  as  Baron  Wharncliffe  in  1826.  Lady  Wharncliffe  survived  him 
till  1856.  Their  eldest  son,  John  Stuart  Wortley,  1801-1855,  who  succeeded  to  the  peerage 
on  his  father's  death,  travelled  in  his  youth  in  the  United  States.  He  was  the  author 
of  pamphlets  on  political  topics,  and  the  editor  and  translator  of  Guizot's  "  Memoirs  of 
George  Monk."  His  widow,  the  Lady  Georgiana,  survives  him.  Her  recollections  of 
Sumner  are  given,  ante,  p.  306.  John  Stuart  Wortley,  June  14,  1838,  invited  Sumner, 
who  brought  a  letter  to  him  from  Judge  Story,  to  dine  at  his  house  in  Curzon  Street,  and 
meet  Lord  and  Lady  Wharncliffe.  He  wrote  to  Sumner,  Nov.  9,  1838:  "I  think  you 
will  have  taken  a  pretty  good  survey  of  English  country-houses,  and  will  know  more  of  our 
mode  of  life  in  them  than  most  foreigners,  though  this  word  seems  scarcely  to  suit  a  person 
who  has  so  many  points  of  identity  with  us  as  yourself.  It  gave  us  all  great  pleasure  to  be 
able  to  receive  you  here  [Wortley  Hall],  and  I  think  I  may  take  the  opportunity  of  saying 
as  much  for  Lord  Fitzwilliam,  if  I  may  judge  from  a  few  harried  words  which  we  had 
.ogether  after  some  business  in  Sheffield  the  other  day." 
V.    ,»  vol.  i.  24 


370  MEMOIR  OF   CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1838. 

Quarter  Sessions,  which  are  held  with  a  jury,  and  dispose  of  all  crimes  where 
the  punishment  is  under  transportation  for  life,  and  also  of  all  the  cases  under 
the  poor  laws.  For  thirty  years  his  Lordship  has  been  chairman,  and  is  said 
to  have  discharged  these  important  duties  in  such  a  manner  as  to  distinguish 
him  among  all  the  magistrates  of  England.  I  have  had  the  good  fortune  to 
sit  by  his  side  on  the  bench.  T  need  not  tell  you  that  Lord  W.  is  a  thorough 
Tory,  and  so  are  all  his  family.  He  inquired  about  you,  and  said  he  wished 
you  would  visit  England.  Lady  Wharncliffe  is  one  of  the  handsomest  wo- 
men of  her  age  I  ever  saw.  She  is  a  daughter  of  the  Countess  of  Erne,  and  a 
sister  of  the  late  Countess  of  Liverpool.  John  Stuart  Wortley  is  amiablo, 
intelligent,  and  gentlemanly.  He  has  expressed  the  warmest  regard  for 
you.  Of  course  he  is  a  Tory.  He  has  contested  unsuccessfully  many  places, 
so  as  to  get  the  soubriquet  of  the  "  standing  member."  Lady  Georgiana,  his 
wife,  is  a  tall  and  striking  person,  with  a  good  deal  of  brilliancy  in  conversa- 
tion and  quickness  of  mind.  She  is  a  daughter  of  the  Earl  Harrowby,  and,  I 
need  not  add,  a  very  strong  Tory.  Next  is  Charles,1  who  is  in  the  army; 
but  who  was  not  at  home,  so  I  will  say  nothing  of  him.  Then  comes  James 
Stuart  Wortley.2  He  is  the  young  member  of  the  bar  to  whom  your  works 
have  gone;  and,  you  will  be  glad  to  hear,  without  question  one  of  the  most 
promising  and  rising  members  of  his  profession.  If  his  party  shall  be  able 
to  get  and  keep  power,  he  may  expect  no  inconsiderable  promotion ;  indeed, 
the  "  keeper's  seals,"  as  of  old,  "  may  dance  before  him."  He  is  now  about 
thirty-two.  He  would,  however,  pass  as  much  younger  than  I  am.  I  know 
James  Wortley  very  well.  Next  is  the  daughter  Caroline,  who  is  married 
to  Mr.  Talbot,  the  third  son  of  the  Earl  Talbot.  They  were  at  Wortley 
while  I  was  there.  Such  is  the  family:  never  have  I  seen  more  good  sense, 
pure  toryism,  simplicity,  and  affectionate  intercourse  than  among  them.  The 
park  about  the  house  is  famous  as  the  scene  of  the  opening  of  Scott's  "  Ivan- 
hoe."  It  is  also  supposed  to  have  been  infested  in  ancient  times  with  a 
dreadful  dragon;  and  an  old  English  ballad,  preserved  in  Percy's  "  Reliques," 
commemorates  this. 

To  return  to  Wentworth.  In  the  chapel  to-night  at  prayers  there  were 
about  fifty  servants,  constituting  the  household  establishment.  Young  Lord 
Milton  has  just  married  a  very  pretty  little  wife,  a  daughter  of  Earl  Morton. 
The  earl  arrived  to-night,  and  was  pleased  to  express  his  regret  that  I  had 
not  visited  him  when  in  Scotland.  You  may  find  pictures  of  Wentworth 
and  descriptions  enough.  I  will,  therefore,  not  fatigue  you  by  my  sketch. 
It  is  truly  vast.  All  the  country  places  round  Boston  put  together  would 
not  equal  it;  and  it  contains  some  very  remarkable  paintings, — among 
others  the  famous  Vandykes  of  Strafford.  This  house  and  estate  once 
belonged  to  the  great  Strafford,  and  many  of  the  books  in  the  library  have 
his  name.  Lord  Fitzwilliam  has  all  the  papers  of  Burke, — letters,  essays, 
and  unpublished  manuscripts.  I  have  taken  the  liberty  of  urging  his  Lord- 
ship to  give  these  to  the  public ;  and  I  think  he  is  disposed  to  do  it. 

i  1802-1844. 

2  Born  in  1805.  He  has  been  a  member  of  Parliament;  was  Recorder  of  London  in  1850, 
and  Solicitor-General  in  1856-57.    His  recollections  of  Sumner  are  given  ante  p.  304. 


JEt.  27.]  VISIT  AT  WENTWORTH  HOUSE.  371 

I  cannot  conclude  this  letter  without  letting  you  know  the  splendid  hospi- 
tality and  friendly  notice  which  I  received  from  Lord  Morpeth  when  I  was  in 
Ireland.  His  position  is  eminent;  but  he  is  as  good  and  simple  as  he  is  emi- 
nent in  the  government  and  aristocracy.  From  Wentworth  I  go  to  York,  to 
see  the  Minster;  and  then  to  visit  Lord  Leicester,  in  the  grandest  house  in 
England,  as  he  told  me;  then  to  London,  to  sit  in  Westminster  Hall. 
As  ever,  affectionately, 

Charles  Sumner. 


TO  GEORGE  S.  HILLARD. 

Wentworth  House,  Oct.  26,  1838. 
My  dear  Hillard, — You  know  all  about  this  vast  place  from  books. 
It  will  therefore  be  quite  vain  for  me  to  send  you  a  sketch,  even  if  I  had 
the  disposition  to  do  so,  —  writing,  as  I  now  do,  after  dinner  in  the  long  gal- 
lery, where  are  many  of  those  paintings  by  Vandyke,  Reynolds,  and  Raphael, 
of  which  all  the  world  has  heard,  and  where  also  the  ladies  are  assembled  for 
the  evening's  diversions.  I  cannot  content  myself,  however,  without  saying 
that  nothing  which  I  have  previously  seen  in  Paris,  or  other  parts  of  England, 
in  Scotland  or  Ireland,  had  prepared  me  for  the  vast  and  magnificent  scale 
of  this  establishment.  The  house  is  certainly  the  largest  private  edifice  I 
have  ever  seen;  and,  I  think,  larger  than  any  public  one,  except  the  Palace  of 
Versailles.  The  front  is  unquestionably  the  finest  specimen  of  architecture  I 
have  looked  upon.  I  shrink  from  going  into  details ;  but  you  may  conceive 
the  extent  of  the  establishment  in  some  degree,  when  you  know  that  there 
are  upwards  of  two  hundred  horses.  I  have  had  an  opportunity  here  of  wit- 
nessing, under  favorable  circumstances,  English  races,  and  seeing  the  con- 
duct of  the  younger  portion  of  the  aristocracy  of  this  great  country.  I  assure 
you  it  has  been  deeply  interesting.  But  more  interesting,  by  far,  was  it  to 
look  upon  the  wonderful  features  of  Strafford,  —  the  original  owner  of  these 
estates,  and  the  ancestor  of  Lord  Fitzwilliam,  —  perpetuated  by  Vandyke. 
Here  are  several  of  the  productions  of  this  renowned  artist ;  and  the  whole 
place,  when  you  consider  that  it  has  passed  through  the  hands  of  that 
great  lord  and  of  the  Marquis  of  Rockingham,  so  memorable  in  the  time  of 
our  Revolution,  breathes  an  air  of  deep  historical  interest.  Lord  Fitzwilliam 
is  one  of  the  mildest  and  purest  of  men.  You  will  be  glad  to  hear  that 
Prescott's  book  was  in  his  Lordship's  hands,  and  also  in  those  of  several 
of  the  ladies  of  the  house;  and  Lord  Fitzwilliam  told  me  that  Earl  Grey 
expressed  to  him  the  highest  opinion  of  its  merits.  I  should  not  fail  to  add 
that  Lord  Morpeth  —  whose  distinguished  position  you  well  know,  and  to 
whom  I  am  indebted,  not  simply  for  hospitality,  but  for  the  greatest  and 
most  friendly  kindness  —  inquired  with  great  interest  about  Mr.  Prescott; 
and  Mr.  Labouchere,!  whom  I  met  at  his  Lordship's  table,  spoke  of  his  work 

l  Henry  Labouchere,  1798-1869.     He  wag  a  member  of  Parliament  from  1826  to  1859, 
became  Privy  Councillor  in  1835,  and  was  Vice-president  of  the  Board  of  Trade  from  1835 


372  MEMOIR  OF  CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1838. 

as  the  history  of  the  period.  I  passed  three  days  at  Lord  Wharncliffe's,  — 
one  day  longer  than  I  intended  to  stay.  If  I  had  not  passed  this  day  at 
Wortley  Hall,  I  should  have  met  Lady  Francis,  the  widow  of  Sir  Philip,  at 
Went  worth. 

As  ever,  affectionately  yours, 

Chas.  Sumner. 


TO  GEORGE  S.  HILLARD. 

Fairfield  Lodge,  near  York,  Oct.  27,  1838. 
My  dear  Hillard,  —  It  was  only  last  night  that  I  wrote  you  from 
Wentworth  House.  I  failed,  doubtless,  to  give  you  an  idea  of  that  im- 
mense establishment,  where  you  find  persons  of  every  trade,  —  a  baker, 
with  his  rooms  and  apparatus;  a  confectioner;  a  butcher;  a  brewer;  and,  of 
course,  his  majesty  the  cook.  In  the  stables  you  find  farriers,  carpenters, 
joiners,  and  the  like.  Then  there  are  conservatories  and  hot-houses,  by  the 
side  of  which  those  of  our  Botanical  Garden  and  of  Mr.  dishing1  —  the  two 
together  —  are  quite  small  things;  and,  more  than  this,  there  is  an  aviary, 
where  you  may  see  more  strange  birds  than  I  have  ever  seen  together  in  any 
collection  in  America:  in  one  place  you  may  see  the  eagle  in  his  spacious 
cage,  and  in  another  that  rarity  of  antiquity,  the  black  swan,  sailing  on  an 
artificial  lake,  while  sea-gulls  and  other  aquatic  birds  are  splashing  about 
him.  Somewhat  used,  as  I  have  now  become,  to  the  country-life  of  this  won- 
derful island,  I  am  astonished  at  the  extent  of  all  that  I  have  seen  at  Went- 
worth. I  would  gladly  have  stayed  longer,  according  to  his  Lordship's  kind 
invitation;  but  my  other  engagements  would  not  permit.  I  however  in- 
dulge the  hope  of  being  able  to  visit  him  at  his  other  seat,  —  Milton, — 
during  the  hunting-season,  that  I  may  not  leave  England  without  seeing  one 
of  her  great  national  sports.  I  am  now  the  guest  of  a  sportsman,  —  Mr. 
Thompson,  whose  acquaintance  I  made  at  Wentworth,  —  at  his  pretty  place 
in  the  neighborhood  of  York,  where  I  have  come  simply  to  see  the  Minster. 
I  should  tell  you  that  I  had  a  good  opportunity  at  Wentworth  to  observe  the 
way  in  which  the  wealthy  sons  of  the  aristocracy  pass  their  time.  The 
young  Lord  Milton  had  invited  some  of  his  friends,  of  about  his  own  age, 
and  keen  in  their  love  of  horses,  to  visit  him,  and  have  some  private  races. 
Milton  offered,  among  various  prizes,  a  gold  cup  and  a  dessert  set.  Among 
the  young  men  were  the  future  Lord  Scarborough  and  Lord  De  Mauley. 
They  were  all  dressed  as  jockeys,  with  the  cap,  the  close  blue  or  red  or  yellow 
silk  jacket,  the  leather  breeches,  and  the  white-top  boots.      I  observed  a 

to  1839,  and  again  from  1847  to  1852;  Chief  Secretary  for  Ireland  from  1846  to  1847; 
Colonial  Secretary  from  1855  to  1858,  and  was  raised  to  the  peerage  as  Baron  Taunton  in 
1859.  His  second  wife,  to  whom  he  was  married  in  1852,  was  Lady  Mary  Matilda  Georgi- 
ana,  a  daughter  of  the  sixth  Earl  of  Carlisle,  and  sister  of  Sumner's  friend,  Lord  Morpeth. 
His  visit  to  this  country  has  been  mentioned  already,  ante,  p.  305.  Sumner  visited  Lord 
Taunton  in  July,  1857,  at  his  seat  at  Stoke. 
1  Of  Watertown,  Mass. 


JEt.  27.]  ENGLISH  CATHEDRALS.  373 

strong  habit  with  them  all:  a  remark  could  not  be  made  without  an  offer  to 
support  it  by  a  bet.  If  they  were  walking  in  the  garden,  one  observed  on  the 
distance  of  a  certain  object,  and  straightway  a  bet  was  offered  and  taken  with 
regard  to  it;  and  on  one  occasion  the  young  De  Mauley  —  who,  besides  being 
the  heir  of  a  peer  and  at  present  a  member  of  the  House  of  Commons,  has 
just  married  one  of  the  handsomest  women  I  ever  saw  in  any  country  — 
offered  to  bet  that  he  could  run  a  certain  distance  within  a  given  time.  The 
bet  was  taken,  the  ground  measured:  he  took  off  his  boots  and  coat  and  waist- 
coat, ran,  and  gained  the  bet.  At  cards,  they  were  always  disposed  to  make 
the  sum  played  for  quite  high.  I  have  found  it  universal  in  England  to  play 
for  money;  sober  persons  make  the  sum  sixpence  on  each  point,  —  a  term 
which  I  do  not  understand,  though  I  have  gained  several  points,  as  I  have 
been  told.  I  played  one  evening  with  Lord  Fitzwilliam  as  my  partner ;  and 
we  won  between  us  about  a  pound,  which  was  duly  paid  and  received.  An- 
other evening,  I  played  with  the  young  Scarborough  and  De  Mauley  and  a 
clergyman.  I  then  won ;  and  the  clergyman  paid  me  five  shillings.  Now,  I 
must  confess  that  I  have  disliked  all  this  very  much.  I  do  not  fancy  cards  in 
their  best  estate,  —  especially  do  I  not  fancy  them  when  so  nearly  allied  to 
gaming.  I  however  took  my  seat  at  the  tables  in  order  to  make  a  set,  and 
fell  in  silently  and  without  any  question  with  what  appeared  to  be  the  re- 
ceived usage.  Indeed,  so  strong  is  the  custom  in  this  regard  as  to  give  rise  to 
another,  which  is  quite  different,  I  believe,  from  that  in  America.  Among 
us,  man  and  wife  never  are  partners,  —  are  they?  Here,  as  I  heard  Lord 
Fitzwilliam  observe,  they  always  are  partners,  —  because,  otherwise,  they 
would  gain  nothing :  it  would  do  a  man  no  good  to  win  from  his  wife.  You 
know  very  well  that  Lord  Fitzwilliam  is  a  person  of  the  greatest  purity  of 
character  and  religious  feeling.  I  will  not  abandon  my  reminiscences  of 
Wentworth  without  speaking  of  the  young  lady  who  was  so  beautiful,  — 
beautiful,  in  my  sight,  beyond  most  that  I  have  ever  seen.  She  was  a 
daughter  of  Lord  Duncannon,  and  newly  married  to  the  young  personage  I 
have  mentioned.  I  do  not  remember  any  face  in  England,  except  that 
which  passed  before  my  eyes  at  Ravensworth  Castle,  so  captivating.  English 
ideas  of  country-life  you  will  somewhat  understand,  when  I  tell  you  that  she 
said,  "  London  at  this  season  is  intolerable;  and  even  a  villa  is  not  to  be 
endured."  Now,  a  villa  is  a  neat,  pretty  spot,  with  fifteen  or  one  hundred 
acres  of  land  occupied  by  a  garden,  —  being  precisely  what  all  the  "  places  " 
and  "  seats  "  round  Boston  are.  Nothing  here  is  dignified  as  &  place  or  seat, 
unless  the  grounds  are  so  extensive  that  one  may  take  his  drive  without  cross- 
ing the  borders  of  his  own  property,  and  the  ladies  may,  with  their  own 
hands,  drive  their  pony-phaetons  through  the  winding  paths  of  its  woods. 

I  have  seen  York  Minster.  These  wonderful  piles  of  Gothic  architecture 
fill  my  mind  with  an  intenser  glow  than  aught  else  I  have  seen  or  felt  in 
England.  Is  not  that  saying  a  good  deal?  My  happiest  moments  in  this 
island  have  been  when  I  saw  Salisbury  and  Durham  cathedrals.  Much  hap- 
piness have  I  enjoyed  in  the  various  distinguished  and  interesting  society 
in  which  I  have  been  permitted  to  mingle ;  but  greater  than  all  this  was  that 
which  I  felt  when  I  first  gazed  upon  the  glorious  buildings  I  have  men- 


374  MEM01K  OF    CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1838. 

tioned.  Then  it  was  that  I  was  in  communion  with  no  single  mind,  — 
bright  and  gifted  though  it  be,  — but  with  whole  generations.  Those  voice- 
less walls  seemed  to  speak;  and  the  olden  time,  with  its  sceptred  pall, 
passed  before  me.  Oh !  it  was  with  a  thrill  of  pleasure  that  I  looked  from 
the  spire  of  Salisbury,  and  wandered  among  the  heavy  arches  of  Durham, 
which  I  can  never  forget.  At  Durham  I  was  with  a  most  distinguished 
ornament  of  the  Church,  —  Dr.  Gilly,1 —  and  with  my  namesake,  the  Lord 
Bishop  of  Chester,2  with  Gaily  Knight,3  the  old  college  friend  of  Byron, 
and  with  Dr.  Buckland ; 4  but  those  venerable  walls  were  more  interesting, 
by  far,  than  all  that  these  men  could  say.  And  I  remember  no  feast  so  rich 
in  elevated  pleasure,  —  not  those  where  the  contributions  of  wit  and  learning 
have  "  outdone  the  meats,  outdone  the  frolic  wine."  Let  me  say,  however, 
that  York  did  not  produce  this  fine  effect.  I  saw  it  on  a  rainy  day,  and  with 
my  mind  full  of  my  journey  to  the  South. 

Boston,  Oct.  29. 

Not  from  "  famous  Boston  town,"  where  I  first  drew  breath,  do  I  write, 
but  from  the  small  place  on  the  distant  coasts  of  Lincolnshire,  whence  John 
Cotton,  "  whose  fame  was  in  all  the  churches,"  went  to  settle  our  New  Eng- 
land. I  saw  the  old  parsonage  which  Cotton  left  for  the  woods  of  America, 
and  tapped  at  the  back  door  with  a  venerable,  triangular  knocker,  —  which, 
I  doubt  not,  the  hands  of  the  Puritan  preacher  had  often  known,  before  he 
forsook  the  soft  cushion  of  the  Established  Church  and  the  shadow  of  that 
fine  Gothic  pile,  on  which,  even  in  his  day,  so  many  centuries  had  shed  their 
sunshines  and  showered  their  storms.  And  a  glorious  pile  is  this  parish 
church  of  Boston,  built  in  the  time  of  Edward  III.!  I  wish  we  could 
remove  it  to  our  city.  In  every  thing  else  we  have  immeasurably  out- 
stripped the  English  town,  which  numbers  about  thirteen  thousand  people, 
and  has  all  the  air  of  a  provincial  place.  There  is  a  windmill,  which,  with 
its  broad  vans,  is  so  like  that  which  once  stood  at  the  South  End,  that  I 
would  have  sworn  to  its  identity. 

Holkham  House,5  Nov.  2,  1838. 
This  house  has  not  the  fresh  magnificence  of  Chatsworth  (the  princely 
residence  of  the  Duke  of  Devonshire),  the  feudal  air  of  Raby  and  Auckland 

1  William  Stephen  Gilly,  1790-1855 ;  canon  of  Durham  and  vicar  of  Norham ;  author  of 
publications  concerning  the  Waldenses.  He  wrote  a  pleasant  note  to  Sumner,  Nov.  26, 1838, 
expressing  regret  that  he  could  not  visit  Norham,  and  see  country  curates  and  English  peo- 
ple in  farm-houses  and  cottages. 

2  John  Bird  Sumner,  1780-1862.  He  was  made  Bishop  of  Chester  in  1828,  and  Arch, 
bishop  of  Canterbury  in  1848.  His  younger  brother,  Charles  Richard  Sumner,  1790-1874, 
was  first  Bishop  of  Llandaff ,  and  then  of  Winchester ;  resigning  his  see  in  1869,  which  he 
had  held  forty-one  years. 

3  Henry  Gaily  (or  Galley)  Knight,  1788-1846;  poet  and  traveller,  member  of  Parlia- 
ment; referred  to  in  Moore's  "Life  of  Byron"  (London:  1860),  pp.  60,  218,  245. 

*  William  Buckland,  1784-1856 ;  professor  at  Oxford,  and  Dean  of  Westminster ;  dis- 
tinguished for  his  studies  in  geology  and  mineralogy.  He  invited  Sumner  to  dine  with 
the  Geological  Society  Club,  Dec.  19,  1838,  at  the  "Crown  and  Anchor  "  Hotel. 

5  Murray's  Handbook,  —  "Essex,  Suffolk,  Norfolk,  Cambridgeshire," — pp.  254-261. 


^t.27.]  VISIT  AT  HOLKHAM  HOUSE.  375 

castles,  or  the  grand  front  of  Went  worth;  but  it  seems  to  me  to  blend  more 
magnificence  and  comfort,  and  to  hold  a  more  complete  collection  of  interest- 
ing things,  whether  antiques,  pictures,  or  manuscripts,  than  any  seat  I  have 
visited.  The  entrance  hall  is  the  noblest  I  have  ever  seen ;  and  the  suite  of 
apartments  is  the  best  arranged  for  show  and  comfort  that  can  be  imagined. 
With  the  doors  open,  you  may  look  through  a  vista  of  eleven  spacious  rooms; 
and  these  of  the  most  agreeable  proportions,  and  adorned  by  the  choicest  pro- 
ductions of  the  pencil.  Here  you  may  admire  the  luxurious  tints  of  Titian, 
the  landscapes  of  Claude,  the  magnificence  of  Vandyke,  and  the  soul-touching 
canvas  of  Raphael  and  Da  Vinci.  The  painting  by  Vandyke  of  the  Duke  of 
Aremberg,  which,  large  as  life  —  and  the  duke  on  his  courser — adorns  the 
principal  saloon,  Lord  Leicester  considers  the  best  picture  in  the  world.  He 
has  refused  twenty  thousand  pounds  for  it.    Here  is  the  ' '  Leo  X."  by  Raphael, 

—  an  engraving  from  which  you  will  find  in  Roscoe's  "  Life  of  Leo;  "  and  a 
"  Holy  Family,"  by  Raphael.  A  large  "Joseph  and  Mary,"  with  the  infant 
Saviour,  going  into  Egypt,  by  Rubens,  I  do  not  admire.  It  has  that  tawdry 
coloring  which  flames  so  along  the  walls  of  the  Louvre,  where  his  canvas  is 
spread  for  several  rods.  As  you  pass  from  these  rooms  to  the  dining-room, 
you  go  through  a  gallery  of  surpassing  grace  and  proportions,  which  is  occu- 
pied by  a  collection  of  antique  statues  and  busts,  the  completest  in  England, 

—  a  "  Pythian  Apollo,"  a  "  Venus  "  with  a  veil,  a  "  Meleager,"  a  "  Faun  " 
in  most  beautiful  preservation,  a  "  Neptune,"  a  "  Diana  "  (for  sending  which 
from  Rome  the  old  Lord  Leicester  was  thrown  into  prison) , with  busts  of  Seneca 
and  Cornelius  Sylla,  —  the  latter  said  to  be  the  only  one  that  has  come  down 
to  us.  I  have  only  mentioned  some  of  the  principal  ones.  And  you  dine 
with  noble  and  almost  colossal  heads  of  Juno  and  of  Lucius  Verus  looking 
from  their  high  niches  down  upon  you.  You  have  heard  much  of  the  manu- 
scripts at  Holkham,  which  were  arranged  and  put  in  order  by  the  late  Mr. 
Roscoe ; 1  this  also  is  called  the  completest  collection  of  the  kind  in  England. 
Some  of  the  illuminations  are  beautiful  beyond  imagination;  and  some  of 
the  manuscripts  are  invaluable.  They  relate  to  all  branches  of  learning; 
and  here  I  have  found  the  handwriting  of  Sir  Edward  Coke,  and  have  for 
hours  pored  over  the  crabbed  page  which  bears  the  marks  of  his  pen.  In  the 
library  there  are  many  works  with  his  annotations. 

Lord  Leicester  2  is  now  old  and  infirm.     He  is  a  very  ardent  friend  of 

1  Roscoe's  "Life  of  William  Roscoe,"  Vol.  II.  pp.  256,  262. 

2  Thomas  Wil  liam  Coke,  Earl  of  Leicester,  1752-1842.  He  inherited  the  estates  of  his  uncle, 
Thomas  Coke,  who  was  Earl  of  Leicester  and  a  descendant  of  Sir  Edward  Coke.  He  repre- 
sented the  County  of  Norfolk  in  Parliament  from  1776  to  1832,  and  was  known  as  "the  first 
Commoner  of  England."  He  was  faithful  to  the  Whig  party.  In  1837  he  was  created  a 
peer,  with  the  title  of  Earl  of  Leicester  of  Holkham.  He  was  distinguished  for  his  zeal  in 
promoting  an  improved  cultivation  of  the  soil,  and  was  reputed  to  be  "  the  first  farmer  of 
England."  Miss  Martineau  records  the  remarkable  changes  which  he  wrought  on  his 
estates, — "History  of  England,"  Book  VI.  ch.  xvi.  His  estate  and  mode  of  living  are 
described  in  "Life  of  Lord  Denman,"  Vol.  I.  pp.  237-239;  also  a  visit  to  him  when  he  was 
in  his  eighty-second  year,  Vol.  II.  pp.  5,  7.  His  widow  married,  in  1843.  Edward  Ellice, 
M.  P.  for  Coventry,  and  died  in  1844.  Sumner  wrote  on  an  autograph  of  the  Earl  of  Leices- 
ter, "  The  above  autograph  of  the  Earl  Leicester,  formerly  known  as  Mr.  Coke,  and  the  mover 


376  MEMOIR  OF   CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1838 

America,  and  recounts  as  the  proudest  event  of  his  life  the  motion  he  made 
for  the  recognition  of  our  Independence.  He  speaks  of  Fox  with  the  warm- 
est friendship;  of  George  IV.,  who  had  visited  him  at  Holkham,  in  no  meas- 
ured terms.  This  pedantic  monarch  used  to  call  Fox  "  Charles,"  and  Mr. 
Coke  (now  Lord  Leicester)  "Tom."  Brougham  was  once  a  great  favorite 
of  my  host;  but  his  recent  conduct  seems  to  have  estranged  everybody 
from  him,  even  Lord  Leicester  and  also  Lord  Spencer,  who  is  now  here, 
though  I  have  not  heard  the  latter  speak  of  him.  There  is  a  large  party 
about  assembling  to  enjoy  shooting.  Lord  Spencer  and  his  brother  and 
Lord  Ebrington  have  already  come,  with  the  Ladies  Anson  and  Elizabeth 
Stanhope.1  You  would  be  amused  to  see  Lord  Spencer,2  —  once  the  leader 
of  the  House  of  Commons,  and  perhaps  the  most  distinguished  member  of  the 
Ministry,  and  now  looked  to  as  a  future  Premier,  if  he  will  consent  to  have 
greatness  thrust  upon  him,  —  in  a  rough  dress,  with  thick  hob-nailed  shoes, 
duck-painted  gaiters,  and  a  mackintosh,  —  his  whole  dress  defying  the  wet, 
—  going  round  the  barnyards,  and  feeling  of  cows  and  oxen  and  bulls,  in  order 
to  determine  their  comparative  merits,  or  with  his  gun  and  well- trained  dogs 
wandering  through  fields  of  turnips  and  stubble  to  shoot  pheasants  and  par- 
tridges; and  after  dinner,  not  wotting  of  the  affairs  of  state,  but  talking 
about  his  dogs  and  of  the  fifteen  brace  of  partridges  he  has  shot,  and  then 
sitting  down  to  a  silent  game  of  whist.  There  is  a  register  kept  of  all  the 
birds  killed;  and  Mr.  Stevenson,  our  Minister,  who  once  visited  here,  is  re- 
membered for  often  missing,  and  for  charging  his  gun  so  high  as  to  blow  off 
its  lock,  and  nearly  to  blow  himself  to  pieces.    But  the  shot  never  to  be  forgot- 

of  the  recognition  of  the  Independence  of  the  United  States,  was  given  me  by  his  daughter, 
Lady  Elizabeth  Stanhope,  at  Holkham,  Nov.,  1838."  In  March,  1839,  Lord  Leicester,  by 
his  secretary,  expressed  himself  as  "  most  happy  to  see  Mr.  Sumner  again  at  Holkham, 
whether  alone  or  with  any  friend,"  and  thanked  him  for  Felton's  Greek  epigrams  on 
Chantrey's  woodcocks. 

1  Lord  Leicester's  second  daughter,  Anne  Margaret,  was  married  to  Thomas  (Viscount) 
Anson  in  1794,  and  died  in  1843.  His  third  daughter,  Elizabeth,  was  married,  in  1822,  to 
John  Spencer  Stanhope,  of  Yorkshire,  and  both  herself  and  husband  died  in  1873.  William 
Roscoe,  the  historian,  while  visiting  Holkham,  celebrated  Lady  Anson's  birthday,  Jan.  23, 
1831,  in  verse :  — 

"  When  Anson's  natal  day  returns, 
And  Holkham's  halls  resound  with  joy,"  &c. 

Roscoe's  "Life  of  William  Roscoe,"  Vol.  II.  pp.  265-268.  Sumner  first  made  the  acquaint- 
ance of  Lady  Anson  in  London,  who  introduced  him,  at  an  interview  specially  arranged,  to 
her  father.  She  also  interested  herself  to  have  him  see  the  Bridgewater  and  Grosvenor 
collections  of  pictures.     Her  note  of  Oct.  20,  1838,  welcomed  him  to  Holkham. 

2  John  Charles,  third  Earl  of  Spencer,  1782-1845.  As  Lord  Althorp,  he  served  in  the 
House  of  Commons  from  1804  to  1834,  and  was  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer  from  1830  to 
1834.  His  integrity  and  good  sense  won  him  a  leading  position  in  Parliament.  Miss  Mar- 
tineau,  referring  to  his  retirement,  says:  "Lord  Althorp,  now  become  Lord  Spencer,  was 
thus  soon  at  liberty  to  enter  upon  the  privacy  he  sighed  for.  He  never  returned  to  office. 
Perhaps  no  man  ever  left  the  House  of  Commons  and  an  official  seat,  about  whom  there 
was  so  little  difference  of  opinion  among  all  parties.  Nobody  supposed  him  an  able  states- 
man; and  nobody  failed  to  recognize  his  candor,  his  love  of  justice,  his  simplicity  of  heart, 
and  his  kindliness  and  dignity  of  temper  and  manners."  "History  of  England,"  Book  IV. 
ch.  xii.  He  was  foremost  among  English  noblemen  in  promoting  the  improvement  of  agri- 
culture. 


Mt.  27.]  CHANTREY'S  FAMOUS  SHOT.  377 

ten,  and  which  has  been  commemorated  in  a  most  classical  way,  was  that  of 
Chantrey,  the  sculptor.  He  killed  two  woodcocks  at  one  shot,  —  a  thing  not 
known  in  the  memory  of  man  in  these  parts ;  and  Lord  Leicester, was  so  de- 
lighted that  he  vowed  that  Chantrey  must  make  a  monument  of  his  own 
achievement.  A  beautiful  marble  tablet  adorns  the  library,  on  which  are  two 
woodcocks  falling  together,  —  the  offering  of  the  sportsman  and  the  sculptor 
to  his  noble  host.  Inscriptions  for  this  tablet  came  in  from  various  quarters, 
and  I  have  derived  so  much  pleasure  from  them  that  I  send  you  some  which 
I  have  copied  on  the  spot.  From  these  you  may  catch  an  idea  of  the  "  diver- 
sions "  of  Holkham.  The  idea  that  was  sought  to  be  expressed  was  that  the 
sculptor  and  the  sportsman  were  one  and  the  same,  and  Chantrey  further 
wished  that  his  name  should  appear  in  the  inscriptions.  Several,  you  will 
see,  are  faulty  in  this  last  respect.  As  none  seemed  to  satisfy  the  sculptor 
entirely,  he  finally  put  on  the  tablet  a  simple  prose  inscription,  which  is 
quite  well  expressed :  "Two  woodcocks  killed  at  Holkham,  NovT.  1830,  by 
Francis  Chantrey,  sculptor,  at  one  shot;  presented  to  Thos.  Wm.  Coke,  Esq! 
1834."  There  is  a  space,  however,  on  the  marble  for  the  addition  of  an 
inscription,  if  they  should  ever  get  one  that  suited.  If  you  and  Felton  will 
write  inscriptions,  I  will  most  gladly  send  them  to  Lord  Leicester;  indeed,  I 
should  like  to  make  such  a  contribution.  I  was  asked  to  offer  some  of  my 
own;  but  I  never  wrote  Greek  or  English  verses,  and  my  Latin  would  not 
flow  very  smoothly  now.1 

Vixerunt,  vivunt,  0  vis  quanta  entis !  eadem 
Ad  vitam  reduces  qu&  periere  manu ! 

Mr.  Children,  F.R.S. 
This  last  is  quite  epigrammatic. 

We  fled  from  Norway  o'er  the  German  wave, 
And  pilgrims  here  we  found  an  early  grave ; 
Hard  fate  was  ours ;  for  here,  at  Holkham  farm, 
We  deem'd  the  stranger  had  been  safe  from  harm. 
But  Heav'n  consol'd  us  with  our  victor's  name, 
And  he  that  slew  us  gave  us  deathless  fame ! 

W.  G.  Cookesley,  a  Master  at  Eton. 
I  like  the  versification  of  these  very  much. 

Let  passing  sportsmen  hail  the  favor' d  spot 
Where  fell  two  woodcocks  at  a  single  shot; 
Fell  by  a  hand  for  different  deeds  more  known, 
Imparting  grace  and  breath  to  shapeless  stone. 
Once  more  he  bids  them  die,  and  once  again 
Start  into  life,  demanding  to  be  slain. 
Master  of  either  art,  this  vase  to  fame, 
Chantrey !  shall  give  thy  chisel  and  thine  aim. 

Sir  Robert  Adair. 
Very  good. 

1  The  inscriptions  have  been  printed  in  "  Winged  Words  on  Chantrey's  Woodcocks," 
edited  by  James  Patrick  Muirhead,  M.  A.,  with  etchings.  London:  John  Murray.  1857. 
A  copy  of  the  volume  is  in  the  Boston  Public  Library.  Only  a  few  of  the  seventeen,  as 
copied  by  Sumner,  are  given  here;  in  some  instances  they  differ  from  Mr.  Muirhead'a 
version. 


378  MEMOIR  OF  CHARLES  SUMNER.  11838, 

From  kindred  cocks,  when  robb'd  of  life, 

How  wide  the  fate  we  boast ! 
Their  chisel  is  the  carving-knife, 
•?  Their  bed,  a  bed  of  toast; 

Whilst  Chantrey's  hand,  by  which  we  fell, 

Of  magic  power  possessed, 
Bids  us  —  our  wondrous  tale  to  tell  — 
On  marble  bed  to  rest. 

Sir  Hussey  Vivian,  Master-General  of  Ordnance. 

These  are  pleasant  and  humorous. 

In  sport  immortal  as  in  art, 

Chantrey  is  gifted  to  outgo 
All  others ;  'tis  his  happy  part 

To  double  all  that  they  can  do. 

R.  W.  Bacon. 

I  was  told  that  these  last  verses  were  pronounced  very  good  by  a  company 
of  Cantabs  at  Sir  Francis  Chantrey's  table.     I  am  not  of  that  opinion. 

I  hope  these  may  please  you  and  my  friends,  particularly  Felton,  as  much 
as  they  have  me;  though,  perhaps,  they  strike  me  more  as  I  am  on  the  spot 
of  the  achievement,  and  in  view  of  the  marble  tablet.  As  I  have  walked 
down  that  glorious  gallery  and  suite  of  apartments,  and  looked  on  the  lifelike 
marble  and  the  breathing  canvas,  I  have  had  you  in  my  mind,  and  observed 
for  you,  —  "  spirits  twain  have  passed  with  me." 

The  term  is  commencing  at  Westminster  Hall,  and  I  must  renounce 
these  things  to  plunge  again  into  the  haunts  of  the  law.  I  go  to  London 
to-morrow,  leaving  a  most  brilliant  company  which  is  now  assembling  at 
this  favored  seat. 

As  ever,  affectionately  yours, 

Charles  Sumner. 

P.  S.  I  hope  Felton  did  not  burn  my  letter  recounting  my  Guy  Manner- 
ing  adventures  in  the  Highlands  before  you  read  it.  I  think  William 
Story  will  be  pleased  by  this  woodcock  episode. 

[Professor  Felton  wrote  six  inscriptions  in  Greek  (see  post,  letter  of 
March  1,  1839),  which  Sumner  sent  to  Lord  Leicester,  one  of  which  was  the 
following :  — 

Otiqirep  NiSfirjs  fioiprt  roffjSe  /cat  rjfuv 

'E<ttip  di(vpo?s  leal  fiaicdpeo-o-iv  d/xov' 
'HfieTs  yap  Odvo/xev  XavrpoTo  j8eA€(T<ri  &a/teWcy, 
Kav  \iOcp  adavdrovs  avrbs  efl^/ce  ird\iu. 

It  is  thus  translated  by  Mr.  Muirhead,  the  compiler  of  the  ' '  Winged 
Words  on  Chantrey's  Woodcocks,"  p.  37:  — 

"  Happy  at  once  and  miserable,  we 
Seem  to  partake  the  fate  of  Niobe ; 
For,  perishing  by  Chantrey's  dart,  we  die, 
And  in  his  marble  live  immortally."] 


JEt.  27.]  LORD  COKE'S  BOOKS  AND  MANUSCRIPTS.  379 

TO  PROFESSOR  SIMON  GREENLEAF,  CAMBRIDGE. 

Holkham  House,  Nov.  2, 1838. 

My  dear  Greenleaf,  —  Which  is  the  older  of  the  two, — you  or  I? 
There  cannot  be  much  disparity  of  age,  I  feel;  for  you  write  so  freshly  as  to 
respond  to  all  the  little  of  youth  there  is  left  in  me,  or  I  have  grown  so  grave 
as  to  be  climbing  prematurely  to  the  dignity  of  your  years.  But  time  has 
moved  faster  with  me,  since  I  left  your  planet.  I  certainly  can  hardly  make 
up  my  mind,  or  find  voice  or  even  pen-strokes,  to  call  you  "  Mr."  or  "  Pro- 
fessor." There  is  no  feature  in  English  social  life,  particularly  in  the  inter- 
course of  the  bar,  that  has  more  struck  me  than  the  familiarity  and  brotherly 
tone  in  which  all  acquaintances  —  I  do  not  say  simply  friends  —  address 
each  other.  At  the  bar,  as  a  general  rule,  all  barristers  address  each  other 
simply  by  their  surnames,  without  any  prefix ;  and  there  are  many  of  the 
English  bar,  who  are  old  enough  to  be  my  father,  whom  I  address  with  that 
familiarity.  I  wish  I  could  talk  with  you  now ;  there  are  a  thousand  things 
on  my  mind  that  I  fear  I  may  lose  in  the  Lethean  waters  of  Germany,  where 
I  go  from  England,  and  which  I  should  like  to  discuss  with  you  and  the 
Judge,  and  others  of  the  goodly  fellowship. 

I  am  now  the  guest  of  the  Earl  Leicester,  —  the  famous  "  old  Coke,"  as 
he  has  been  called  for  years,  —  who  was  offered  a  peerage  four  times  before 
he  accepted  it.  His  house  is  beautiful  beyond  expression,  and  is  adorned 
with  the  choicest  antiques  and  paintings.  The  rooms  are  spacious,  magnifi- 
cent, and  comfortable.  His  library  of  manuscripts  is  said  to  be  the  richest 
in  England;  it  contains  MSS.  of  most  of  the  classics;  also  Italian  and 
ancient  English  ones.  They  are  all  beautifully  bound,  and  occupy  the 
shelves  which  surround  a  room  nearly  as  large  as  your  study  in  Dane  Hall  — 
how  my  pulse  throbs  as  I  write  this  word !  Lord  Leicester  is  the  descendant 
of  no  less  a  person  than  our  Sir  Edward  Coke,  whilom  Lord  Chief-Justice 
of  the  Common  Pleas ;  and  to  him  have  come  the  manuscripts  and  library 
of  the  distinguished  lawyer.  Little  did  I  think  when  I  moiled  in  the  pages 
of  this  writer,  and  almost  felt  my  eyesight  fail  before  his  stern  black-letter, 
that  I  should  ever  be  the  guest  of  his  descendant,  —  one  of  the  most  dis- 
tinguished peers  of  England,  —  in  one  of  the  most  remarkable  private 
dwellings  in  the  world,  and  permitted  to  see  and  examine  the  very  books 
—  the  Regi<itrum  Brevium,  Statuta  Antiqua,  &c.  — that  our  great  master  once 
used,  to  study  his  crabbed  handwriting,  and  to  pore  over  the  darksome  notes 
and  memoranda  which  he  made  on  the  margin  of  the  volumes  he  read. 
Lord  Spencer  and  Lord  Ebrington  are  here;  while  they  are  wandering 
through  fields,  with  their  faithful  dogs  to  bear  them  company,  after  par- 
tridges and  pheasants,  I  have  been  scanning  these  gloomy  pages.  On  the 
title-page  of  many  of  these  books  is  written,  Edward  Coke,  —  being  the 
autograph  of  the  grim  lawyer.  In  one  of  the  drawing-rooms  of  the  house 
is  an  original  portrait  of  Lord  Coke,  by  Janssen.  You  may  imagine  that 
I  have  felt  no  common  thrill  in  being  thus  permitted  to  look  upon  these 
things.  Have  I  not  cause  for  great  gratitude  in  the  opportunities  of 
gratifying  so  many  of  my  fondest  desires,  in  enjoying  the  society  and  con- 


380  MEMOIR   OF   CHARLES   SUMNER.  [1838. 

fidence  of  so  many  of  the  learned  in  the  law,  in  mingling  with  the  good 
and  great  in  such  various  walks  of  life?  I  have  feasted  from  silver,  and 
lived  among  nobles ;  but  I  believe  that  you  would  find  me  at  the  present 
moment  not  less  desirous  of  getting  knowledge  and  doing  my  duty,  than  I 
have  ever  been  during  the  few  years  in  which  I  have  had  the  happiness  of 
your  friendship.  I  look  forward  to  my  return  with  no  little  anxiety;  and 
hope,  after  a  few  days  of  quiet  intercourse  with  my  friends,  to  renew  the 
labors  which  I  have  for  the  while  forsaken ;  to  grasp  resolutely  the  plough 
which  I  have  left  in  the  furrow. 

Tell  me  frankly ;  do  you  and  the  Judge  think  it  would  have  been  better 
for  me  had  I  stayed  at  home?  This  broad  page  of  human  life  which  I  have 
been  studying  has  been  full  of  instruction ;  and  I  feel  that  I  know  more,  and 
can  do  more,  than  before  I  forsook  my  affairs  for  Europe.  You  have  thrown 
out  some  hints  with  regard  to  my  occupying  a  place  with  you  and  the  Judge 
at  Cambridge.  You  know  well  that  my  heart  yearns  fondly  to  that  place, 
and  that  in  the  calm  study  of  my  profession  I  have  ever  taken  more  delight 
than  in  the  pert  debate  at  the  bar.  I  shall  only  wish  to  see  some  distinct 
and  honorable  line  of  duty  marked  out  for  me,  and  I  shall  at  once  enter  upon 
it.  I  should  observe,  however,  that,  for  various  causes,  I  shall  feel  a  strong 
obligation  to  devote  myself  to  my  profession  on  my  return,  in  such  wise  as 
will  insure  me  the  most  considerable  income,  —  those  principles  of  duty  and 
honor  being  regarded  which  you  have  taught  me  never  to  lose  sight  of.  I 
shall  of  course  be  always  obliged  by  your  advice  and  suggestions,  and  hope 
to  hear  from  you  at  length  before  my  return  with  regard  to  the  best  way  of 
recovering  the  place  in  my  profession  which  I  have  left.  Lord  Brougham 
said  to  me,  "  It  is  very  strange  that  men  in  your  profession  in  America  can 
abandon  their  clients  and  go  abroad,  without  entirely  breaking  down,  —  Mr. 
Pinckney  did  it."  I  added  that  Mr.  Pinckney  was  a  student  of  his  profession 
when  in  Europe,  and  that  1  was  myself.  "  That  alters  the  case,"  said  his 
Lordship;  "  and  I  doubt  not  you  will  go  home  better  prepared  than  before." 
This  is  a  case  in  point,  certainly  a  dictum,  by  an  ex-chancellor  of  England. 
The  court  is  about  to  commence  its  labors,  and  I  leave  this  retreat  to-morrow 
for  Westminster  Hall. 

As  ever,  affectionately  yours, 

Chas.  Sumner. 


end  of 


tftfY^ 


RETURN     CIRCULATION  DEPARTMENT 
TO--*     202  AAoinLibroP' 

loanTeriod" 

HONVEUSE 


9649 


BOOKS  MAY  BE  «AU»  ""V  °*  „  ,he  due  do,e. 

R.„.w...  end  Rechorue,  may  be  made  'Jay 
B.OWS  m-y  be  Renewed^o^J^^ 

DUEASJTAMPlDBap^ 


FORM  NO.  DD6 


»S»° 


^OTW 


f  GENERAL  LIBRARY  -  U.C.  BERKELEY 


B0D01bbL,M«i 


